Across The Stars
by Your108thNecromancer
Summary: In this AU timeline, many years after the fall of the Empire, the New Order and Jedi High Council work together (kinda) to keep peace in the galaxy. But in the depths of an abandoned system, there is a place much more dark in backstory and events, which houses a character with an even more tragic backstory and the driving force behind an evil unforeseen...M for most everything.
1. Episode I

(Note: This is a Star Wars-based story with elements of other media in it. However, this does not make it a crossover.)

Fein Fawkes Surgen was a strange boy at a young age. Preferring to play with the lizards in the street than with his own fellow humans, or play with fantasy imagination adventures with other anthros, rather than with other boys his age. He lived on an Earth-like planet, Terrel, that had a Jim Crow-like state of living with anthros: it was a repeat of Earth, minus the slavery and the civil war more-so a huge political war, as well as a brutal 7-year rebellion by the new species. Despite the obvious, things were well hidden about how anthros were made.

….

"Why does my arm tickle when the thing touches me?"

The young boy asked the scientist with innocent eyes, and with a face that spelled out innocence. The innocent eyes, of course, but also round cheeks, fuzzy unkempt red hair, and a look that could melt steel.

"Because your body likes it, of course :3" Alph like the child. Alph was in his mid-thirties, and worked in the Creation portion of his scientific workplace. APTITUDE was a product of APERTURE labs, and was focused on creating advances to mankind. They were currently trying to create a more intelligent species of animals with higher traits than humans could muster. Purity, Intellect, Strength, and Security (PISS as an acronym. That was unintentional.). The young boy was to donate human DNA as part of the experiment, which would therefore (hopefully) go into creating the Raven and the Phoenix: Intellect and Purity, respectively. A young girl would donate her DNA to the other two for Strength and Security, a bear and a Komodo dragon, respectively, but their chromosomes determining gender would be intermixed for, essentially, a random chance.

Alph loved his job, of creating new life from parts of others, and being an orchestrator of what could be the greatest breakthrough of life since Edison was born. He thought that the kids were great, too. They didn't really complain, and were cooperative, but their parents weren't pleased that some "socialist whackjob" were making their kids very tired after the experiments. Alph didn't mind the complaints, it was good for the kids to get rest, but was concerned they might develop narcolepsy if the tests went on too long.

Alph took the transfusion to the vials, nearly done for the day. Seems the kid was too, already drifting off. Alph snapped his fingers, and the young child sat up straight.

"Just one more, ok, little buddy?"

He took one more transfusion, from the kid's temple. This one detracted the most minimal amount of DNA from his brain, leaving it intact, and unharmed. But this was clearly too much for the boy's body to handle, and he fell asleep within 5 seconds. Alph took the transfusion back and laid it with the rest, before picking up the boy and carrying him to the resting area. The girl wasn't there, so Peyla must've still been busy with her. Alph heads back to his lab and began mixing the concoctions.

….

One day, about a month after this, the deal was done. They had created life, and it was making the news as much money as the facility itself. APTITUDE donated half of all earnings to charity, 15% to APERTURE, and the rest was saved for themselves. However, something strange was noticed in the blood of the animals with Fein's DNA...it was filled with a strange bacteria (midichlorians, but they don't cause force user's abilities to use the force. Not in my town, they just enhance the power of the force used. Reasonable enough.), and on investigation, they found the boy had an exceptionally high amount of this bacteria, unseen by scientists. These tiny bacteria were harmless but numerous, and seemed most active in his motor limbs: his arms and legs, to be precise. The girl also had a strange sort of bacteria as well, different from the young boy's but similar in shape.

The girl did not survive the war. Both the children had demonstrated exceptional abilities, being able to move objects with their mind and being exceptionally agile. However, the girl seemed to have a sunnier disposition with a love for her fellow species, while even at a young age the boy was cynical and cared more for anthros. The Jim Crow-like state didn't apply to hybrids, but the discrimination was there. He wasn't one of those that discriminated against anyone, yet he had always known it was there. During the rebellion, a group of shadowy anthros in particular had assaulted suburban area, and the girl, aged 11, was slaughtered at the hands of these people. The boy, Fein, was elsewhere, but it was assaulted by self- proclaimed "Peacekeepers", who arrested (forcefully bound) all humans, except him. This is known for while his parents had been taken, when they went back in, dazzling light was seen from outside, and the team didn't come out. Another went in. More light. More silence. When a squad of more powerful went in, a blast of red light and sharp crackling was heard.

Finally, one small squad went to the back and looked into a window. All they saw was a teenager sitting on a bed, holding what looked like a blade handle, and a few burn marks near the edges of the doorway, which was ajar. They decided to sneak in through an underground passageway, and there they found their colleagues, burnt and/or electrocuted. They threw something in front of the doorway they were near, and lightning blew it apart. They made the simple connection, and decided to exit the home: it wasn't worth their lives. They later, when reinforcements arrived, sent out someone with similar abilities: a raven. Upon seeing the bird anthro, however, he did not respond with an attack. Rather, he shook his head, and was heard muttering "flesh and blood to a fault.", before surrendering. However, on the way to the Rebel Anthro Court…

….

"Who are you?"

The human doesn't respond. He had a look of disdain on his face as he was in the back of a stolen police car, handcuffed. He had a few strands of visible hair that were blazingly bright red, but most of his hair was hidden by a strange cloak he was wearing. He had a few permanently visible scars along his nose and left cheek, as well as a grim expression and hateful eyes with a strange iridescent quality...it seemed to change from red and orange to blue and grey, and so on. The Raven repeated the question.

"My name is not important. My fate to your rebellion is. I appreciate your kind, but not what you're doing. So now I'm rebelling, and quite personally, might I add, to answering a question I find trivial." It didn't feel right. Fein knew whom it was. And he knew what The Raven had done to him, a few years ago, that was erased from his mind, but not the boy's mind. It was attempted, but he had an iron will enforced by a wall of steady resistance.

"You don't have to be rude about it…" The raven responded.

"You say that like it's not ironic." The conversation ends at the human's retort. His hands were behind his back, although he was no longer in need to remove his handcuffs: they didn't stand up to the power of the Force. Luckily, his conversation distracted the sound of their unlocking. He was sitting in the car, malice in his mind driving his motivations, as he felt dozens of connections to the force die out, including the ones that connected him to his parents. However, ever-callous, he didn't care. Malice had taken over, and he didn't want anything but to use it for a very good cause.

As the car neared what Fein assumed was the rebel base, he sensed a powerful presence nearby. One with a strong connection to the force. This is the time he acted.

"I'm afraid I must depart now. Good day."

The raven and the driver, a cat, looked to him as he blew the roof off the back of the car where he sat, electricity crackling, and he jumped out, hitting the ground hard, while the car spun to turn around. He flicked his wrist, sending the car tumbling down the road further, and he was satisfied. He walked towards the force of the energy, wiping off the blood from a few scrapes after jumping out a car next to jagged metal.

It was a building that had been long abandoned, a building over 200 years old, that originally smelted metals and crafted special metals made for building and artistic uses. It was made of bricks to contrast the internal products and was lined with decay, the mortar holding the bricks together cracked. The insides were empty, aside from forgotten machinery and remnants of the past: rare metals, tipped crates from a few looted metals that were worth much more than the regular credits, and a few crystals meant to be used for coloring. It was dirty, musty, and filled with small rats and other creatures, but it housed a presence far greater than anything that is or had currently existed. It built itself to be stronger as Fein walked in further, and was at a pinnacle when he was in one of the factory floors, the main one he assumed, simply from size alike. Suddenly, he felt himself drop to a knee, one hand rested on the knee that remained up, the other to the floor to brake his sudden descent to the ground, and he felt the force finally bubble info clarity. He looked up.

He saw a tall male walk slowly into the area. He had a black cloak on that started at his shoulder and ended at his knees, held up by a chain across the man's chest, and it didn't hide the chest the man had: one covered by cybernetic black material, sleek and in a very translucent manner, a few symbols seen. The man was old, shown by greying hair that was combed to the front, in the style of a Sith Lord. Fawkes had seen it before: Darth Tyrannus once sported a similar hairstyle. His mouth and chin couldn't be seen, instead hidden by a white mask with a snarling smile as a design for it, his eyes were black and beady, with a stoic aura to him and his face in specific. He held both hands behind his back, and had a distinct sound when he walked: like if clanking metal was set on rubber floors. Possibly from the large boots the man wore that seemed a bit too big for him? Whatever the purpose, the man's skin was visibly pale, yet it wasn't wrinkled, not all the way.

"I see. You've found entrance to my location." The man says. He walks closer to Fawkes, who watches with bewilderment. "You must be confused, which I understand. I am Yin Sept, but you may call me Darth Gredion. Who might you be? I do not sense the light side not the dark in you."

"I am an orphan and a seeker of vengeance, to avenge the deaths of my parents and the injustices I have been served." Fawkes responds with a low and scratchy voice.

The voice of Gredion is imperious and deep, perhaps he's been in a position of authority before. "I can sense your anger, your hatred for those you used to consider friends...and a possible hint of fear? I do believe you are emotionally prepared to become a Sith, and I sense the powers you used to get here. However, you have much training to do until you are truly ready to be a Sith Lord, such as I. You need a title. I do believe Darth Deceitus would suit one with a mindset like you, hm?"

And in those words from the Sith Lord, the apprentice had become a true ally to the older man, one he could most likely count on in case of attack...his plans couldn't continue without an apprentice. And now he had one more powerful than nearly any other.


	2. Episode II

Darth Gredion had become quite fond of his apprentice. Fawkes had trained well, learning quickly from his master and then perfecting any faults. Gredion noticed, however, a subtle but, with time, noticeable weakness. The boy had an extremely powerful connection to the force, especially with lightning and stamina, as well as the ability to multiply his stats and other abilities by tenfold, become immune to pain, and feed off the negative energy of others, he had a low durability. Not in stamina: he could keep up a lightsaber duel for hours. But when using the force too much, it drained him dry.

Deceitus had a noticeable incline in progress through the 2 years he has spent with Gredion. An incredible incline. He had developed Flaming Lightning, a red lightning with a significant higher intensity than the regular kind, a brutal strength hidden behind hatred, and yet still he felt good in the boy, a sense of chivalry, justice, and what he had stored away due to recent events: lack of prejudice and his love for animals. Obviously, that changed a bit thanks to what happened over the course of two years. His dueling abilities were infinitely gaining height, and he was well versed in all of the force as well as how to be underhanded, especially with mind tricks. However, against a Jedi Knight, he probably would lose after a decently lengthy battle. Luckily, Gredion knew of a place this young apprentice could further his training.

…..

"Rise, my apprentice."

Deceitus rises to his feet, and here we see his outfit...a cloak, black as the night, very oh- so-lightly lined with cortosis and invisibility technology, as well as matching clothing, and a strange mask. The Guy Fawkes mask, colors inverted, with metal bands around the mask reminiscent of Kylo Ren's mask. This mask also has visors on the eyes, and Fawkes calls this his Mask of Cybernetic Resentment, no real reason why he calls it that. His lightsaber is unique, very unique, but more on that in a bit.

"It has come to my attention, that there is an institution, not too far from the Capital Envoy, that happens to house a multitude of Sith, Jedi, dark Jedi, assassins, and sorcerers. This institution can teach you far more about how the dark side and the light that I never can, for my age leaves me far past my physical prime. I must say, it's quite a very nice place. Let me detail it for you, but let me also detail for you one rule: complete your objective. Now…."

"This school was made from three force ghosts, one a scoundrel leader, one a Jedi master, one a Sith Lord. It has magical properties that allow it to build upon itself if need be, for new classrooms, dormitories, the like. It is very well hidden behind a shroud of the Force, many staff being the master of their craft when it comes to concealing other aspects as well. The staff, speaking of, is mostly experienced or aged Sith, Jedi, scoundrels, observers, or standard teachers. They all outclass some of the Sith and Jedi lords and masters we have around this area of force sensitivity, including me. I believe such a place will do well to finish your training, and recruit more to your cause. I have also noted the beauty of the school itself and its resources seem never-ending, yet all of this comes at quite a price. It is a high-ranked school, only known by insiders or powerful force users, such as I, though not powerful enough to finish your training. With such high-quality, it requires a high price, just so happening to be 75,000 credits to join (much like 750,000 today, in American dollars.), and speaking of it to commoners results in less than savory punishments. I will provide you the necessary credits and transportation, for getting the credits is one challenge, finding it is the hard part. Luckily, I have obtained data on it. A transport bus will carry you. Make sure to be the last one on, give these coordinates to the driver, and repeat this code: "To the Order, Renewed, to which I pray to the brings that support our abilities, Please Do remember me from my perishing breath.". With this, the driver will transport you. You will need to gather your belongings, and we must part ways formally. You have three hours."

Fawkes nods and heads off.

Two hours later, he returns, two duffel bags packed. It's all he needs, really, clothing, and the rest can be built by himself or aren't necessary.

"Good. I see you remember the preliminary hour rule, and you are truly ready to leave with that in mind after two years since I made you promise to that, and this is the first time you've used it since. I have a few items to give you." Gredion hands him a small sack with 4 items. "These are, as follows: a holoprojector; a few crystals; a credit check of 50,000; and a Chromo Cube. You may be confused of 2 and 4, yes?"

"Yes indeed, master."

"Those crystals are for lightsabers, since I know you have a passion for making them. The chromo cube contains many things, all shrunken down into a container. It holds a stun baton, a thermal detonator, a light blaster, a few hundred pounds of metals from this facility, and finally, a ZetaTransmitter 7 (basically, galactic iPhone 6.). With these items, you will defend yourself, attack others, build as you wish, and stay in contact. The holoprojector is meant for contacting me. Now, to obtain something, simply press the button in the side and say the item you wish and how much you want of it, such as.."

He clicks the small, chrome cube's red button on the left of where he holds it.

"One pound of Mandalorian Iron."

The button glows, and into existence comes out one pound of the metal spoken.

"To retrieve the item, do the same thing, but simply add in 'Retrieve unusable' to the first part. If you forget unusable, it assumes you mean everything that has one pound of Mandalorian iron. Unfortunate glitch, I know. Now, you must be on your way. I hope you have learned well, and remember to stay in contact with me." Gredion retracts the metal back, hands Fawkes the cube, and waits as he puts it away. He then offers his hand out the same time Fawkes does, and they shake hands.

"Godspeed, my apprentice."

"Godspeed, my master."

And with that, Fawkes leaves.

….

It's been 3 years since then. Senior year has just started at the Intergalactic Educational Institution, and Darth Deceitus has become anxious. He's been here 3 years, and is known for three things by the staff and younger students: his outstanding intelligence, his brutal power coupled with raw energy, and a strange invertedness. He interacts just fine if in public and likes to spend time in public areas, but avoids company when alone, at all costs. Fawkes has kept relations with his master for the entire time, and has recruited 63 students to his cause, the Entertwel Anonymous United Society (EAUS), a group focused on taking down high-tech terrorists, all of the members were Sith graduates of the IEI.

He has developed quite a superior living quarter situation as well. Each form has three rooms: presumably two bedrooms and a living room, which houses the kitchen and one of the bathrooms right next to it (if you're a glutton, you could make this room yours.), the other being connected to the rightmost bedroom. He uses one of his rooms as a living room, one as a relaxation room (this one has the kitchen), and his bedroom is in the middle of these. He has no dormmate due to paperwork issues upon his arrival (and there are only 176 students at the school currently, with a magic school that can grow at will.). He also has managed to gain a few amenities others in lower grades haven't yet obtained, as well as a vast collection of books, so due to his time off sometimes being spent in the library, as well as his own little personal library, many have nicknamed him "BookMan Black", the latter being a reference to his color of choice when dressing, anywhere. Those people are now corrected, especially after Fawkes decided to duel them.

Fawkes uses a mixture of Form V, VII, and II, to form an erratic, unpredictable, and brutal style. He uses one lightsaber more than others, his own and personal favorite: The Sai Saber. Made with a synthetic, crimson red crystal, this saber has a sleek yet bulky hilt, much like normal, but with an attachment of sorts: a crossguard of a metal sword, the one that usually is seen directly below the blade. From this extends a single blade from the middle, and to the left and right; two smaller blades extend as well, about half the size of Shoto lightsabers. He uses this on its own or with many others.

Whenever he had free time and was bored, he would travel elsewhere in the galaxy and perhaps kill a Jedi or scoundrel or rival Sith, take their weapon, and craft more. With this, he has made upgraded War Rider-like sabers, sabers with enhanced cross guards, ornate sabers that look better on a mantle than in your hand, cutlass sabers that have curved blades, and others. His second favorite is a chromium hilted saber, one with a black crystal he stole off of an obscure Jedi miner, and it has golden flames embroidered on the bottom with a soft grip to his palm side. It is slightly curved at the hilt, and the blade itself spits fire when hitting a solid object, inspired by Darth Infernus' saber. He may use this rather than force powers for dirty tactics, especially known when fighting a female Jedi, with lightsabers locked, he force-grabbed this saber to impale her. All his sabers are connected to his belt, for a more convenient form of quick reaction, but a sudden fight can be staved off with the massive damage the flaming lightning Fawkes can use does.

Fawkes was ready to start his first day. All honors classes in the regular courses, plus the courses for his Sith mastery, namely lightning, choking, manipulation, and dueling. Each class was about 1 hour long, and lunch was after 4th period. After today's fourth period, he went to his dorm to skip lunch, like half of his usual days, when he hears a knock on the door. He walks to the door and opens it to see the Student Advisor, a Twi'lek, standing there.

"Afternoon, Minnei. Is there something I can assist you with?"

"Yes. We gave a few new students, and we're trying to stregthen the bonds between students, so, you'll probably have a dorm mate this last year."

"Hm. Sounds like an interesting senior year. I'll be back."

Fawkes closes the door, packs up everything in the living room into the Chromo Cube, and returns.

"So, when do those students arrive?"

"They should be here in an hour or so. Why don't you try and find someone? You'd be a great….uh..roommate…" Knowing his often social behavior being little, what little it was usually was just small talk, and his intimidating 6"3 figure and known reputation of skill didn't help some of those smaller or younger students. He was 19 now, starting this school late at 15 years of age, but some others starting this year were as old as 26 or older.

Something curious about anthros is that once the first four were created, they could be changed to suit the needs of the scientists, and more could be designed, and so a wide range were created from the original. The originals were made the same ages as their essential creators, the two young children, with a few adjustments, and others could be made differently. Old, young, sickly, disabled, healthy, immune, tall, short, the list goes on. The possibilities seemed endless, and technically were only held back by physical limitations. Many anthros around Fein's age also attended the academy, only around 43 though. 4 new ones were his age, the other 6 were younger, with one being older than him by about a year.

"Oh? Is it my charming charisma or brutal attitude? At least one of those statements was sarcastic."

"No, well, it's just that you keep to yourself a lot, but people say you're helpful...so you being a roommate can't be too bad, right?"

"I thought you lived in the Student Advisor's office/dorm."

"You get my point, Fein."

"Yes, yes. I suppose I'll try to interact, if I can. I'll sense their weak abilities, or at least their unfamiliar aura. I'll try."

"Thanks for being open-minded about this, Fein."

"Only for the greater good. Goodbye."

Minnei leaves, and he sighs. He'll have to be socially active eventually..so, he grabs a book and heads to the library. The grass is beautifully tended to, thanks to the school's magic, and due to the shroud and, you know, being in space, it's about the same brightness as midnight during a full moon, the sky full of stars.

There are noises everywhere..a gentle, artificial wind breezes by (the shroud supplies the same atmosphere that allows most to live, but can't protect against meters or powerful sun blasts), rustling the grass, with a few afternoon students enjoying their lunch outside, at least until the period is over. Of course, there's also the clattering of lightsaber hilts bumping against each other as Fein walks, currently wielding only 2 max, but keeping 19, from all the Jedi and Sith he's defeated and decided their blade was unique enough to be added to the collection. He's defeated nearly 6 times that number, half for a bounty, ¼ because they were nuisances to many others, ¼ because of a personal vendetta. He didn't have all too much remorse, but it was there. You see, you can leave the place, but only by teleportation and untraceable locations, because the place is by all trades illegal. The New Order, the group all Sith and Dark Jedi reside in, has a different set of values than the old group, the Sith in general. And they'd agree with about half of the school's teachings and such, Jedi probably wouldn't at all, and the Dark Jedi are most likely 100% ok. It also wouldn't be a big secret.

Anyway, info aside, Fawkes reached the library without issue and plans to spend 40 minutes reading, and 5 minutes getting to his next class, Lightning IV honors. He's known as the most skilled student in the class, as well as the dueling class, where he's often known to fight opponents with two lightsabers or more with one hand behind his back. Darth Gredion had always liked the style of dueling in a fencing manner, and reflected this on his apprentice. He was on his way to a table when he sensed incoming danger, and caught w book that was thrown at him that nearly hit his head. Seem to have been the book return slot failing, again, which was common. What he didn't sense was what was beside his head, and something large yet decently soft rammed into his entire head.

He stumbled a bit, attempting to uptight himself, before falling to the ground, only to feel himself not hit it, but rather float. He looks to where he was hit to see quite a sight. A 12 foot tall Komodo dragon anthro, dressed in a normal shirt and strange pants. They were purple and seemed a bit thick, but had the appearance that they had a liquid substance constantly moving about inside them, with the appearance of plasma, an electric sort of movement. Striking as that was, there were other things striking about her. Notably, a startlingly large figure, to the point where he pushed the thought from his mind if there were bra cup sizes for breasts bigger than 10 inches, to which he reminded himself since anthros were created, yes, yes there were. She also had an overly voluptuous figure and an aura that was meant to attract him, yet he could resist this aura. He knew it was from the force often used by some as defensive measures against the weak-minded. Given this aura, he also suspected she was quite persuasive, as a lot of persuasive people often used this rather than regular force users. She appears apologetic in facial expression, with a pretty face may I add. Overall it looks like she was engineered for purposes more behind the scenes of things for scientists but somehow managed to get the hell out of dodge and manage to be trained as a Sith. Fein was quite a tactician, and he could see that she was holding him up, using the force.

"Oh, I'm sooooo sorry about that! Did I hit you?" Around this time Fein also realized that at her height, the only way for the kind of impact was A., a ball of force energy, or B., she did a Wario and butt slammed him, and he was going with option B. from how her rear seemed large enough to be soft.

"Yes. No issue, my fault."

"Nonono, I didn't pay attention, I'm sorry…"

Fein rights himself to his feet and she stops holding him up.

"You must be new here. Your presence is unknown to me as of yet."

"Oh! Yeah, I'm new this year. I was originally going to not go here, but my master decided it was the best option for me to complete my training."

Fein was inputting her presence into his memory while she said that until she noticed the book he was carrying that he had caught, and the one that he had been carrying beforehand. "The Chosen One: Story of the Fallen Jedi" and "Old Ben the Jedi Master of Ol'." He had caught the latter, yet the coincidence seemed strange enough to be almost on purpose. The girl seemed to be interested.

"Oh, you like the stories of those two?"

"I suppose so. Interesting enough to know the history and contradictory natures that eventually found coexistence in death."

"Nice :3 I'm Silina Exltra, by the way, but my master gave me the title Darth Atria. Who might you be?"

"People call me Fawkes, or Fein. Currently named Darth Deceitus as well."

"Well, Deceitus, it's nice meeting you, and again, sorry about bumping you…"

"I've had worse. I wear a mask for a reason."

She eyes the many lightsabers on his belts.

"Duelist? Injuries from a lot of lightsaber battles?"

"You could say, but those are more abdominal my centered. I have deeper scars that require a shroud. Good guess though."

"Just thought you liked dueling, you have a lot of lightsabers :P"

"Trophies can be useful if they're unique enough."

"Oh, Jedi Hunter, are we?"

"Half the time. Only those I feel justly deserve it, because some bounties really are just ridiculous."

"So what's the other half?"

"Opinions."

"Right. Kinda new to it, hm? That's about 9."

"There's more in the back, and I let some lightsabers stay with the dead. Not all of them are interesting."

"Which ones are?"

"All the ones I keep."

"So, which is yours?"

He pulls out his two lightsabers so they face down diagonally, slightly menacing manner, and activates them. She seems impressed enough. "Nice! Mind if I show you mine?"

"Knock yourself out."

She force grabs hers from presumably her back pocket (he wonders if he was hit by the other side if he would be inhaled by the lightsaber), and activated it. The beam is a lighter shade of red than others, and it seems jagged, like it's incomplete, many ridges and edges to it. The hilt is smooth and pearly, with a circular grip and straight hilt with a few marks on it: III and CIV. She smiles. "Pretty hard to defend against, hm? All the surprises, all the surprises. I've defeated a few Jedi myself, but they were all attackers trying to 'defeat the Sith'. How many have you killed overall? I've done 56."

"Neato. I've lost count. I think somewhere around 100, but if I did, I would've given myself cake, and I haven't had cake."

"Can you eat with whatever happened to your face?"

Well, to prove a point, he takes the mask off. His skin is decently pale from 3 years of nighttime, but with a fair time to it, and there are a few visible scars around his nose, but none too bad. His eyes are green, red, blue, yellow, and orange, to which she gasps. "Your eyes are so pretty...uh, um, how'd you get them, I mean, hehe…"

"Born that way."

He puts the mask back on.

"I didn't see scars that bad for anything to be hidden."

"I have two masks on. You can't see the other."

She opens her mouth to ask another question, tongue flicking out quickly, before she smiles in a sultry manner.

"Want to duel, Mr. Sith Lightsaber Collector?"

"Can't see why not. Let's take this outside.

He puts his books on the table, neither were his and would either remain there or be turned in by someone else, which was fine by him. She followed him, and once going outside, taps his wristwatch. It, like all wristwatches at the school, can set a school destination and teleport him there. "If you don't want to walk, hold my hand." She does so, blushing slightly that this boy she thought was pretty cute was holding her hand already. He wore gloves, but still, it's the thought that counts. They teleport to the dueling arena, a large circular area in a gym that's made for dueling, with boundaries and a few spectators at times, but not now. He pulls out his main lightsaber and she pulls out hers. They both set it to the lowest setting they can, so it can only cut through muscle a bit, not severe, and essentially can't kill unless you hit somewhere vital.

"Ladies first."

She leaps forward and attempts a fake swing to trick him, which he doesn't fall for, instead rotating his body to the side to receive the resulting blow easier, and that he does, able to parry it effectively before striking at her, blocked by one of the many jagged ridges. He puts an arm behind his back and advances forward, making jabbing motions and sweeping arcs, and defensively parry attacks. She stops her attacks momentarily before drawing him closer using the force, and he uses this to start spiraling forward, , twirling around and causing her to dash away, as he recovers she attempts to end her dash with a flurry strike, but is stopped efficiently by a blast of force lightning, which forces her to block using her lightsaber. He walks closer while using it, striking at her blade a few times as well, before winding back and striking the blade into the air, retracting it using the force.

"Nice grip. Feels nice."

He tosses it to her, to which she catches but he also catches the surprised look on her face.

"How strong are you exactly? Most people would be lost their lightsabers or been fooled by a few of those tricks, but, what, you've seen it before?"

"No. I adapt. I think I'll head back now." He sets his lightsaber back to its regular power setting.

"Well, good job then, I guess...suppose strength isn't everything when you're facing someone strong with the force, right? I can feel your aura, it's very strong.."

"I do suppose that's a deciding factor. Have a nice day."

Before he finishes walking off, he hears her behind him.

"Wait!" He turns around. "Uh...do you have a dorm mate yet? I don't."

"Well, since you're new, I expect that. No, I don't. Minnei the Student Advisor can help you find one "

He turns around and starts walking off again, and he doesn't even have time to react before she dashes to his distance and gives him a crushing hug that basically binds him, his arms stuck to his side and his feet pulled off the ground, his head at her stomach, about at the 6.5-7 feet point.

"Will you let me be yours? Pleaaaase?"

He could feel the force trying to enter his head, she was trying to persuade him. In truth, she seemed ok. Didn't seem too aggravating to have around constantly, and she was quite good at brute force and a few tactics. Perhaps in time she could become a lot stronger, and once his aging master perished, a new symbiotic relationship could be formed.

"Ok, ok. Won't hurt, I guess."

"Yaaaaaaaay!" She tightens the hug and nuzzles his head a bit. He can almost feel his bones fracturing. "You seem pretty awesome, and that means I get an awesome roomie :3!"

"Glad that you're excited. I already renovated a room so it's empty, aside from a welcoming gift. I'll help you with your things. Understood?"

"That sounds cool to me! I'll do most of the stuff on my own, but I'll appreciate your help. Can you, uh..lead the way there though? That's probably the best help of all, because, I don't know where it's at...kinda obvious though :p"

"I will gladly do so, once I can walk again."

"Right, sorry. Just got excited."

She sets him down and he lets her enjoy the feeling of a successful persuasion, and he thinks to himself, well, force persuasion no, energetic and possibly formidable adversary and ally, yes.

….

Once she was settled in she went to her class, and now Fawkes had 10 minutes left until class, since setup was pretty quick. He pulled out his holocommunicator and contacted his master.

"Ah, my apprentice, the great destroyer of enemies. What do you have to report?"

"I'm afraid I was to be forced to gain a roommate, given the way the Student Advisor had been speaking, yet I willingly took one in today. She seems rather capable of great things, with better strategy, and she's very strong with the air of the force."

"Most applicable to your group. She is not your apprentice, is she?"

"Not yet. That will remain so until you perish, master."

"I see. I'm afraid that might be rather soon. A few Jedi are closing in on my location, specifically…the Raven."

Fawkes sneers.

"Oh joy. More fun."

"I can no doubt take on that pitiful bird, but that bird and supporters? Well, you know o must relocate, but I am currently in the residence of another Sith, as well as 5 others. It should be a more even fight now. Of course, we won't play fair nonetheless, since they'll know we're here."

"My master, attempt using the Storm."

"Ah, yes. Good suggestion. Anyhow. Keep your profile low, with another Sith in your presence, your own presence will be more noticeable. And above all, do not take on an apprentice before I die. We wouldn't like a traitor, and you know perfectly well that you hate both traitors and hypocrites."

"I do indeed. The New Order prevails, master."

"The New Order prevails..my apprentice."


	3. Episode III

Fawkes was in the garden, a massive area of flowers and intricate hedge bushes, during the true night hours, since it was a Friday night, when he felt a sharp shock in his pocket. Grunting at the sudden call, he pulls out his holocommunicator and answers it, to see Darth Gredion, as well as 2 others.

"Greetings, apprentice. I'm afraid the Jedi coming our way are much more powerful than we anticipated: there are 5, with one being the High Council of the Jedi Order, the Bear. I know this is something you wish to avoid, but we require your assistance. The bear is weak to force energy, and your powers can easily make him fall. I will provide your teletransport fee, but hurry with your belongings. Godspeed."

Fawkes grimaced and started heading to his dorm. He was not happy about this confrontation, given the stories of the Bear. A Jedi with extreme might and brute force tactics that would have rivaled other brutes such as General Grievous, when the half-droid was alive, or Savage Opress. The Bear would not be a match for the Jedi brutes such as Mace Windu, however, as his slightly sluggish pace and his limited force ability prohibits too much strategy utilizing the Force. But the bear had one massive advantage: when using the force, he could use more than two lightsabers, so he probably could hold up against Grievous, if the opportunity was there. Up to 5 could be wielded of the Jedi was in prime condition, 3 by the force and 2 from his own paws. He carried 5 lightsabers at all times, his main ones both purple, the rest red, as he collected lightsabers from the Sith he arrested or maimed. This was something that required massive internal concentration, to wield lightsabers with the Force. Fawkes could do it, but not in the heat of battle. He would have serious issues if the bear was in physical prime.

…

Deceitus was relieved to see whom he was helped by. His master and a Sith New Order Leader, Espter Talson, or Darth Infernus, as his title was. He was a master force choker and could clash his crossguard sabers with anyone that dared defy him. There were also three other Siths there, all Lords at this point, essentially the same rank as Jedi Knights. They all, combined with Fawkes and his master, could hold off the light side of the force and deceive the Jedi for a while, which was what has happened for a while, but they soon approached.

"One more time. My apprentice and I will take on the walking carpet mutation, and everyone else, push back the Jedi as best you can, understand?" Darth Gredion instructed. Everyone nodded.

"We must wait by the door, in the hidden compartments. It will buy us at least one spare sneak attack." Replied Darth Infernus.

"Yes. Now, hurry. We only have a few minutes."

Fawkes went into the left compartment, about the size of a closet, with Grideon and an alien Sith, one reminiscent of a wolf mixed with a Nightbrother. They then sealed the compartment and waited. After a few minutes, they heard sizzling sounds as the door was broken apart by lightsabers, and 4 sets of light footsteps accompanied by 2 sets of heavy footsteps. One set was right outside the door, belonging to a Jedi with a weaker presence than the rest.

"Should we check the floors?" The Jedi asked.

"Yes. They're crafty, they love to hide. Those cowards can't run forever, and I'll see to it Darth Infernus will pay for what he did at the temple with Gredion."

-They speak of the youngling slaughter, master?"-

-Yes. Now is our chance. Abandon this telepathy and strike, now!-

Fawkes leaps from the compartment, walls purposely weak as butter so Fawkes could be a flaming knife, leaping out and slashing the young Jedi's back open, before pushing off of him, sending him into the wall at the end of the hallway. The others turned to see the Sith leaping out, and intense clashing began, except for at the end of the hallway, where there were five sabers extended, one versus four. Fawkes leaps over the action, sending an arc of lightning to help propel him over it and fry a few Jedi, and lands next to his master, a meter or two away from the Bear, holding two sabers and 2 others floating aside him.

"Greetings, Senior Council Member Daxton. I see you've found us." Gredion grins in cocky triumph.

"Your time of villainy is over, Gredion. I've watched the recordings, and you can't be forgiven. Arrest is beyond you. You're too dangerous to be kept around, especially as you mentor this young boy into a killing machine." Daxton the Bear responds.

"I prefer the term Darth Deceitus, Daxton, and I mentored myself. This man simply tutored me in how to do so." Fawkes extends his lightsaber and grabs his curved-hilted, black bladed saber as well, holding both at his side.

"The Dark Side is clouding your mind, and you are being consumed by it! You can still be helped, your purity is not lost!"

"It was lost long before I took up the Darth title. You, of all beings, should know that best."

Daxton snarls. "Then I'm afraid you'll both share a similar funeral."

He roars and swings the sabers at the two, and there are two different reactions. Fawkes defends against it, nearly knocking both sabers clean from his hands, while Gredion parries the attack and attempts a stabbing motion, before pulling back, but too late, as the floating green saber tears through the air and whacks the dark Lord's saber, hard, sending his arm reeling back. Daxton attempts a sweeping arc with the floating sabers near the Sith's legs, while striking again with his own sabers. This time, Fawkes strikes back while defending, a rebuttal block decreasing the impact a fair amount while he also jumps, swiping at the bear's legs, and Gredion does a flip to the bear's other side, swinging at his head. Daxton drops his right floating saber as he force pushes Gredion into the wall, to which the elderly man falls on top of the barely living Jedi. Daxton then tosses one lightsaber at Gredion, the other two going towards Fawkes' chest. He defends again, barely, and retaliated by sliding his blades across Daxton's, sparks flying, and raising the near-corpse as well as Gredion does, causing the injured Jedi to be impaled by the saber and the body to stick to the wall, slowly sliding down as its cut in half. Gredion leaps to attack, preparing to block the lightning Fawkes was preparing, when both Sith were surprised as Daxton repulsed them both, a power he hasn't used in battle until now. Gredion, falling from the ceiling stunned, finds himself feeling extremely hot in his chest, and looks at the area to see he's fallen onto one of Daxton's lightsabers, the bear grinning with justice being served. Fein stares in disbelief, his lightsabers both clashing the bear's remaining sabers.

"Looks like your time's up, but unlike the bomb you used..you're not going out with a bang." Daxton swings his lightsaber to the left, cutting Gredion open quite a bit more and sending him off the saber, as Daxton rears back and rams both lightsabers down at Fawkes' sabers.

"Give up now, and your execution will be painless, I promise. Your master is dead and you have nothing left to fight me for. Surrender now!" Both were locked in the lightsaber clash, both faces close as Daxton pushes his lightsabers down against Fawkes' sabers with increasing intensity.

"You've simply severed a few ties. He was my master, yes. But now...you've given me strength." A blackish red aura surrounds Fawkes, and his lightsabers glow the same aura. Dark Wrath was in effect, effectively buffing everything about him by 10 and granting him light pain immunity. He was enraged and truly ready to unleash the force. He drops a lightsaber and punches the Bear's large gut at lightning speed, lightning cracklings from the blow, and the bear stumbles slightly, before regaining composure, and collecting his other lightsaber, wielding it with the force. Fawkes walks forward, while the bear throws the lightsaber at him. He whacks it so hard at the hilt it is cut in half, and sent into the walls, leaving tiny dents. Daxton charges forward to which Fawkes twirls around to horizontally lash at the bear with harsh force, knocking him off balance and Fawkes too, but not for too long. He sends a wave of Flaming lightning to the bear, stunning Daxton momentarily, as he sends a long and continuous stream afterwards, the bear falling to the ground and writhing from the agony, until his fur bursts into flames, causing greater agony. Fawkes raises a saber, before being thrown into the wall, hard, by a remaining Jedi, before that Jedi is cut in half by Darth Infernus. He shakes off the impact and stands, retracting both lightsabers, and walking to stand in front of the bear, still on fire.

"Too bad your funeral pyre was your cause of death." He then reaches into his cloak pocket and brings out 10 sharp, metallic, Cortosis knives, and holds them into his fingers with the force, crouching down as the flame dies out.

"Mauling for mauling, hatred for hatred, it's such a shame, that this'll leave you dead."

Fawkes tears back and slashes the bear in the face twice with all 10 knives, before standing up and kicking the bear in the stomach, who at this point shows no reaction. He puts the knives away and turns, aura fading and exhaustion setting in, and he hunched over as he looks at his fellow Sith. Infernus has a gash in his arm, all the Jedi are dead, and all but one other Sith died. There were 4 beings left alive in that room now, and then two of the ones that were still standing left in silence. Fawkes force grabs all five of the Bear's lightsabers, attaches them to his belt, and looks back. The bear was miraculously still alive, but his master was not. 'Twas a shame. Seems familiar, doesn't it? One old man dead, one burnt Jedi. And Fawkes was the cause of both.

….

Fawkes returns to the school and heads to his Dorm, to which he was immediately pulled by the force to Silina.

"Where were you?! You've been located nowhere on the school for the past 6 hours, and you weren't anywhere near here! Were you near a volcano? You smell like smoke…"

"I was just fighting a few Jedi."

"Oh..bounty?"

"Nope. Obligation."

"Ohhhh...are you ok?"

"Might've sprained my wrist in one fight."

"Really? Let me see." She holds up his hand and looks at his wrist. It's bones are slightly fractured, but those can be healed. She brushes her claws over his wrist nonetheless, to feel his skin. It was soft.

"I think you'll be fine… Who'd you fight?"

"High Council Daxton."

"You're lying. Straight up. Not saying you're weak, but, I can tell that if you could fight him and live, you wouldn't be here, but in the Sith New Order Council."

"I had some help from my master and a few others."

"I still don't believe you. I'm checking the news." She drops her force hold on him and checks the news on her own ZetaTransmitter, and he sits on the bed,examine Daxton's saber. A really big and heavy saber with a lot of squared spaces, and a few burn marks from where burning flames met lightsaber hilt. It had a wide handle grip, too.

He's interrupted from this by a force hold. A very strong one, might I add.

"OH MY GOD. NO YOU DIDN'T."

"I said I did."

"LOOK AT THIS."

She shows him a news article, and he finds it quite amusing.

{High Member Daxton mortally wounded, Jedi and Sith alike slaughtered.}

/A report came from around 12:33 am that there was a lot of noise and clashing sounds coming from the old factory on Terrel, to which was investigated by police to see a battle had gone on, with High Council Member Daxton Tarn being burnt, slashed, and battered from a fight that left 2 Jedi knights and 2 Jedi Masters dead, along with three Sith Lords, including the infamous Darth Gredion and in addition there seems to have been a massive burst of an enhanced lightning, suggesting that a powerful Dark Sith Lord was at work. Reports say it very well may have been Darth Infernus and Darth Gredion's combined power. This clash is most likely a result of the fallout of the Jedi Temple terrorist attack, where Darth Infernus and Gredion bombed a section of the temple and then slaughtered all the force-sensitive younglings, erasing the mental capabilities of all non-sensitive younglings, and killing a Jedi Master that had been training the younglings at the time. Police are still investigating the scene, while Daxton is under heavy and constant medical care to help him recover the intensive and extensive damage sustained from an apparent Sith Surge.\

"I'm pretty proud of that fight."

"YOU KILLED A JEDI COUNCIL MEMBER?!"

"Well, he's alive. I just fought him and severely burned him after he killed my master."

"Don't you know what this means? You've just done something like killing a president!"

"Not exactly. Silence is golden, and secondly, I left him alive for a good purpose. To let him suffer is one thing, but letting him remember his inability to stop a brutal attack, will ironically haunt him forever."

"Yo-wait, what?"

"I will say nothing else aside from this: I wear more than one mask. Can you let me down now?"

She responds with an iron-grip binding hug.

"Nooooooo! You can't do these things! I need a dorm roomie and you're pretty cool, I'm not gonna lose the cool guy because he's off killing Jedi council members!"

"I didn't kill him. And I'm incredibly tired. Can I go to sleep?"

"Either no, or you're sleeping right here, right now."

"I'll take that what I can get."

And he stops moving. This is quite the moment for her: she can do as she pleases. However, she restrains herself and simply sits there, reading other news articles while still keeping a tight grip on him.

….

"This is most unfortunate." Jedi High Council member Dara Shalte, an anthro deer that was once raised a Dark Jedi turned to pure light and good.

"Daxton is in critical condition, and our force healers can only keep him alive for so long. What are we to do?" Says Nyt Moran, an African-American male human that wears a respirator backpack and has a cybernetic left arm.

"We could revive him with cybernetics, but…"

"Last time that went horrible. Nearly ended the Jedi."

"May I intervene?" A figure walks into the room where the two sit, and they both bow. The Phoenix has entered.

"I do believe that we can transfer part of our force energy into reviving him. It will make us weaker, but the Sith won't know that."

"A very wise option, m'lady, but we will be vulnerable to the next Sith attack." Nyt responds.

"Yes, but fear not. I have my peers to assist us."

"Yes, my lady. Understood."

"When should we start?" Dara asks.

"Now." Is the response from the Phoenix.

….

"This is most unfortunate.' Darth Infernus says with a start.

"We have lost a member and not only that, but with the heavy injury of a Worship Council member, security will be at a high."

"We must continue nonetheless." Replies a Sith New Order council member, Armen Fortell, a four-armed Falleen that wears a suit to dilute her pheromones. "The Jedi cannot continue their vile actions."

"I agree. We mustn't sit idle. We have to contact that boy, Gredion's apprentice. If he could fry the fur off of that barbaric bear, he will most likely be of good use to us."

"What of it though? He will most likely disagree. From what is heard, he was to train an apprentice when Gredion died. The rule of two isn't to be broken.¨

¨No problem. It is simple: find a place where his enemy lies, and we strike. Then, as we bring him there to fight, we will no doubt overpower our opponents, and when we find that enemy, weaken him. Then, we tempt him further by making sure he himself slays his adversary.¨

¨A bold plan. But where are his enemies?¨

¨The Jedi Temple itself. However, there is another place.¨

¨Where?¨

¨Get the squadron ready. We're heading to Allat.¨

…

Allat is a rocky, unstable place. Earthquakes were common and there are a great many high winds, but it is beautiful. The grass, the flowers, the mountainsides, the waterfalls. It is truly a great vacation spot, unless youŕe on the ground. The city that most everyone lives in, or any subsequent towns, is suspended in the air using powerful winds currents and supports that are firm and immune to the violent shakings coming from the ground. The city and towns are mostly white, clean, and very bland, much like Kamino. However, there were a few places in secret, hidden by top technology, that did illegal counterfeiting or, more alarmingly, bounty hunter groups, where the hunters could do whatever they pleased with victims or receive bounty, etc. The main issue is that the government couldn't even find them, but force users could. Yet, no force users really ever came to Allat. That is, not very much, until a ton of force users suddenly got fed up by bounty hunters and started trying to arrest all that they could. Today, was the day, that this bounty hunter hangout planet got a bit more violent.

Darth Infernus, 4 Sith, 2 dark Jedi, a jedi, and a diplomat were on a transport, to meet to discuss these things. Darth Infernus was in disguise, so he had no issue going around in public, being the kind and compassionate Senate Representative of the New Order, the part of the new order that dictated laws and rules for their followers, and were largely made of non-Sith. He called Fawkes via teleporter tech caller, requesting he be there as 'security'. He obliged, but he did have to sneak out the grasp of his roommate with strength far better than his. He did this by augmenting his body to be more flexible and agile before slipping from her grasp, and standing still as the teleportation started. He stood in front of Darth Infernus, or as he went about here, Espter, and the Jedi, who just so happened to be a High Council Member close to joining the Worship Council, Supreme General Halley, a Xenomorph that is noted for her speed and reflexes. She wears a robe, white lined with purple, but is noted for the bandana she wears around her neck, a grey silk bandana dotted with embroidery-style design spots and markings, as well as claws that allow her to grip things. She's roughly 8 feet tall, and despite being a general, quite pacifistic, trying to avoid conflicts, and be diplomatic, but if force push comes to brutal shove, she'll fight her best, with a lightsaber that has a very unique grip: it has little rings that fit around her claws so she can fight without really having to hold her saber.

They're here to negotiate terms with the bounty hunter groups, and here's the time it would be good to describe Darth Infernus. He was a middle-aged man of around 38 or so, maybe 10 years older, give or take a few, that had skin that was always cold and quite creamy in color. He had veins that ran with a special liquid to keep him alive after a horrible assault, and it made his skin radiate a cold air. He has blue hair that's nice and combed, grey eyes that speak a solemn silence, and usually wears some kind of yellow clothing, "to be the true conspicuous lemon." This is a reference to what EVIL stands for, but of course, only a few people get that. He smiles politely as he walks alongside the xeno Jedi and his guardians/carriers of items, the Sith and dark Jedi.

"Why must you have so many Sith and darker ones, Mister Talson?"

"They have capabilities of stunning attackers, unlike the Jedi, which only one council member can even use force lightning, and that Jedi is currently in the process of standing trial, yes?"

"Yes, but, it seems like trouble waiting to happen."

"Worry not, these are good men who volunteered, without pay, to come from the New Order to guard us. We are in good hands, trust me."

"What about the young man ahead of us? He do-"

"I'm well versed in the force, Lady Halley." Is Fawkes response before she can even finish her sentence.

"But whom are you aligned with?"

"I wish to join the new order, but I'm still in training, learning the ways of other parts of the force."

"Other parts..?"

"Some say I rely too much on lightning."

"Lightning, you say? What kind?"

"Let's pray we needn't need to see me use it."

"Right, we should be peaceful, and keep this brief." Roster intervenes. His voice is smooth and a bit high pitched, and it's very persuasive in tone, plus the force makes a great negotiator.

They reach an area known for activity, and Fawkes taps on the air, and his hands feel nothing. However, he takes a step forward over the railing, seemingly onto the air, and starts walking. The others follow, and he knocks on what seems to be thin air, but makes a slight metallic sound, apparently a door.

"State your bounty code."

"You will let me in using your code."

There is a brief pause.

"I will now allow you access. Don't try anything."

A Mandalorian opens the door to a dark, circular room, full of about 20 bounty hunters, all sitting at a round table made of Mandalorian iron. At the end is a Geonosian with light armor and tons of explosives. There are about 10 empty seats, opposite the bounty hunters, for the diplomats and force users to sit at.

"Have a seat, visitors." The Geonosian says in a chattering and commanding voice/tone.

They all sit, Fawkes and Halley sitting next to Espter, whom many bounty hunters had their eyes on. Such a big target could have huge rewards…

"I understand that you want us to leave."

"Well, blunt, that statement may be, but it is true." Replies Espter.

"We are doing no harm and have no reason to leave our little headquarter here, or any other establishment. You leave the bars open, which are far more rowdy and dangerous."

"Yes, but barmen do not kill targets for sums of credits. We are barring all of you from arrest unless you refuse, in which case you resist the New Order and the Jedi Council, which is considered an act of rebellion."

"We do nothing to the townsfolk, and we have to have meetings somewhere. Long distance is easily trackable."

"You may relocate elsewhere. We have a proposition for you, nonetheless."

"Oh? I'd love to hear it."

"We will provide a place for you to hold meetings, and such, and far better furnished than these, but there are three conditions."

"Tell me these conditions."

"Firstly, all members must have chips implemented into them so they can be scanned and , no one can leave the planet with weapons if they have such chips unless a licensed policeman or licensed to bear Blasters. And finally, violations of rule 2 result in life imprisonment or the death sentence, and any new members must be given the chip and prompted on the rules. Your sentences you would've received for your crimes will be dropped, except for death sentence criminals, required to spend a max of 25 years in a high-security galactic prison."

The Geonosian thinks this over, while other bounty hunters chatter.

"How will I run a business then?"

"Hunt criminals, of course. You may also be given a license to be a bounty hunter for criminals or undercover agent, and allowed to carry weapons that way, but killing anyone unauthorized results in immediate death penalty to that offender."

"These conditions seem very restricting but still fair enough..however...we have a better idea."

"Oh yes?"

"We could hold you here for ransom to be acquitted and for a massive sum of money, as well as the insect."

Espter looks only mildly annoyed, while Halley looks enraged yet softly expecting such a thing. The bounty hunters already have their guns at the ready.

"Kill the others, keep the two important ones alive." With the command from the leader, the hunters all take aim to fire, only for the 'security' team to extend their sabers, the diplomat a gun, and both Infernus and Halley their sabers. Infernus' saber spat fire upon impact, making it deadlier than others, but that fire was very very flammable, too. Blasters are fired and rifles are continuously shooting but many are reflected or miss their mark, being deflected or even stopped in the air, and many kill their attackers, leaving 7 left, including the Geonosian leader. The Sith spring forward while the dark Jedi circle around, one on each side, and the two leaders stand side by side in defensive stances, and lastly, Fawkes springs high into the air. As the Sith cut down the hunters and the dark Jedi choke their victims, the diplomat fires at the choked hunters with a small but accurate blaster pistol, and this leaves the commanding Hunter left, to which Fawkes lands in front of, raising him in the air.

"You have no tactics, foolish insect."

"You have no power, foolish Padawan."

Fawkes really doesn't like this guy's kind of tone with that retort, blasting him with a surge of flaming lightning, to which Halley takes note of how it's red and the room gets a bit hotter each second it's used. The Geonosian cries out in pain and after 7 seconds of suffering, Fawkes stops the assault, and motions for the dark Jedi.

"Take him to the shuttle."

As he starts walking away, Halley stops him.

"What kind of lightning was that?"

"One of a kind, mine."

He was almost finished going out the door when the Geonosian, who I should point out is named Calpa, tries to fire a shot at Fawkes' back. He reflects it at the wall, leaps forward, and pulls out his lightsaber while also raising it to strike Calpa down with it, until he feels something very strong pull on his hands.

"Stop it, stop it! He's unarmed now, you know you can't kill him like that!" Halley says, obviously panicked that this important mission would fail twice.

"And he's not going to die. Not right away, at least."

He tries pulling his arm down, but she remains firm.

"Please! He must stand trial!" She knew this could make or break her promotion to the worship council.

Fawkes growls and sheathes his lightsaber, putting it away, and taking the gun that Calpa used from the Dark Jedi that took it.

"I'll keep this as evidence then. I'll have at least one trophy."

He walks away for good this time, clearly annoyed he couldn't get at least a bit of revenge.

….

"P-please..just tell me what you want with me…" Calpa was now in horrid pain, in Infernus' lair, the New Order High Sith Council. He was burned, electrocuted, choked, mind read, and cut into by Infernus to show the clear purpose of him being there: to be used, but first, he would know his position and punishment. But he had no idea what he was going to be used for.

"You managed to hide your thoughts from an extremely powerful Sith Lord. That, is most useful. I wish to employ you as a bounty hunter."

"W...what?"

"I wish for you to do the dirty work I don't always have time to do. Your death will be faked, I will disguise you, I will give you a team of mercenaries, and you will be my bounty hunter...or die. You will be treated well, killing whom I request, or you will die. And you will succeed…

...or you'll die from the agony I'll give you from failing. Understood?"

Calpa nods pitifully. He knew that his fate was sealed anyway. But at least he could live another day.

"I first want you to go to the Capital Institution of The Force. There, you will kill a Song Loret, a Gungan dark Jedi warrior. He is a teacher, and he knows secrets I want erased. I also want you to leave a package for Fein Surgen."

"What's in it? A bomb?"

"No. A bit of a…"

Infernus grins with an evil undertone to his entire aura.

"Welcoming gift."

 **A little note.**

Woohoo! Over 2000 views! I gotta say, thanks to ya. For this ⅕ milestone to 10000, I am hoping to hold an OC contest. Submit an OC via PM, with details of origin and backstory, and they very well may appear in this story! You don't have to. Only if you really like that one Jedi you made that you want to share with the world. Anyway, have a nice time on fanfic!


	4. Episode IV

Fawkes was quite pleased with school. He was still top of his class, and to top it off, he always makes it through the week without incident of anyone disturbing him. With an exception of the current week, however, as for Silina being there, he did have to be around the dorm a bit more, as he felt she could use company such as him..a non-discriminating, powerful mentor. On Tuesday, he received a package at his dorm, and it had a note attached to the side. He read the note.

"To Darth Deceitus."

"It has come to my attention that you have quite a special bond with the dark side of the force, yet you have not applied to the New Order yet. In any case, I ask you to be a guardian of the New Order temple, as the Jedi gain persistence in their attempts to hide their actions. I must ask you construct a lightsaber of The Sacred Vow, one that you will only use in times of where the New Order asks of it, most often in sacred practices or ceremonies, as well as Sith religious practices. This crystal is an enhanced crystal, imbued with the power of the force. Use it wisely.

-Supreme Commander Iblis.¨

Fawkes smiles. He has a lovely plan for the maroon-colored crystal.

…

After a very delicate procedure and quite a lot of time, the crystal has been inserted into his main lightsaber, and the three blades now give off a dark aura. He extracts this aura using the force, and implants it into another crystal, a golden yellow mixed with red, a special breed of crystal that is made of two colors at once. Fawkes designs a blade with a very sleek design, the chromium reflective enough to use in a fight against Medusa, leather grippings on both sides in the form of pads, and a metallic square inserted into the shaft, dividing the saber in two, basically. He lights the saber, and admires how there are two blades, side by side, almost touching each other, one yellow, one red. Both give off a faint dark aura, and this saber is what he will use as his New Order Saber. However, he must cut this short, as he senses a powerful presence. He can sense Halley, yet he prepared himself for this, and smiles.

…

Halley walks along the sidewalk of the campus, the edges of the institution looking just as well-cared for as the rest. She is lost in thought, at the thought that a Sith was rising through the possible power levels that no force user should reach. She has never seen lightning cause a fire, when cast by a force user, but she heard that the Dark Lord of the Sith, Emperor Palpatine, was able to do so with ease. However, Darth Sidious also had over 80 years of age and experience with the dark side under his belt, while this Sith, Fawkes, had no trouble doing so while not even ¼ of Sidious' age. He shows a very strong connection to the dark side and the force in general. One, as the Jedi council debated, that could not be used by the Sith. She hated this job, since many of these learning force users were little to nothing suspecting of what would happen and have no clue what they're up against, plus, many are innocent. As she makes it closer to the dorm, she wonders about the effects of this capture when she accidentally bumps into someone, causing them to hit the ground. She looked down to apologize and sees a young male, around 17 or so, slowly getting up. He has fiery red hair, ending just before his shoulders, that's quite a mess. He also has a bit of pale skin, as well as fairer tones, but mostly regular/pale skin around his face. He has a very cute face, with eyes that seem to have different colors: black, green, and yellow on one eye, blue, orange, and magenta on the other eye, and quite a nice smile, even though he just hit the concrete sidewalk pretty hard, and he appears to have a few scars around his nose and cheeks, light scars obviously from a long time ago. He looks up to her.

"Oh, I-I apologize for not looking where I was going, ma'am."

"No no, I was not paying attention, it is my fault as well."

"It's ok, n-no harm done, right?"

"Yes. May I ask who you are?"

"I'm Kes Faewn Inusger, you're S-Supreme General Halley, yes?"

"Oh? Have we met before?"

"No, you're very r-recognizable, and you have a very s-strong presence."

"Ah. Why are you nervous?"

"I-I'm not, I just have trouble speaking, b-but it's no big deal."

Halley examines his apparel. He wears red robes with gold trimmings, and has a strange lightsaber.

"May I see your lightsaber?"

"Oh, let me show y-you how to use it first."

He takes it out and lets her view it. It's shaped like a cross, having four ends and being entirely symmetrical, with no grips, only a slender and straightforward hilt design, Kes ignites all four ends, essentially making a lightsaber addition sign, while holding one of the saber ends, and no more.

"C-Cool, huh? Hard to hold if you aren't used to it."

She examines it, each blade having a cerulean color, the blades each shorter than a regular saber blade by about 4 inches, and the hilts are quite long and as mentioned before, slender.

"What are you training to be?"

"I'm h-hoping to be a guardian at the Jedi temple."

"So this saber will be of utmost usefulness for such a position. Very good work. Well, I look forward to your arrival. Keep safe around here."

Halley walks off, as Silina walks towards the direction Kes is in, curious about the student.

"Hello there. Have you, by any chance, seen a guy with a lot of lightsabers walking around, pass by here?"

"Perhaps. Well...I have, actually."

"Really? Where's he gone to?"

"The sidewalk."

"What?"

Kes takes the red robes off, revealing black ones underneath, with a lightsaber belt, and a mask, to which he pulls out and puts on.

"Sorry. Jedi disguise. Anyway, what is it you need?"  
"I was wondering if we could spar, since I've recently had a big breakthrough in force augmenting and force push."

"Fine by me."

It's worth noting the lineup of sabers Fawkes possessed at his disposal. He had his Disguise saber, useful for when he was pretending to be a jedi, a shoto guard saber, a crossguard saber that had two 45 degree, dagger-sized blades out the side, also like a sai, 2 standard but ornate lightsabers, such as his side lightsaber with the black crystal and one with a beautiful electrum finish, 3 double-bladed sabers, one modeled after Exar Kun's in style but more-so like Qui-Gon Jinn's in design. He wielded a lightwhip designed after Darth Sion's hilt, 3 curved lightsabers, a pair of sabers that had electrical-based energy and was better at electrocuting than burning, and they were fashioned after Darth Nihilus' blade, a standard lightsaber with nothing special at all, a saber fashioned like the War Dragon Rider's blade, made with a small hole that could emit a stun or memory wipe ray, a blade that was merely an extendable ultrachrome sword, complete with a few gems on the hilt and a jewel-encrusted guard, of which all these rare gems and such were found on the same place that he found the black crystal he uses in his side saber, and finally, a saber fashioned like a pirate cutlass, complete with handguard, yet made out of cortosis, and the blade curved much the same as a cutlass' did, allowing for a lot of mix-ups using this. He had many more designed but either not yet made or not yet completed.

For this match, he decides to use the Sai Saber and an electric-based saber. It had a coating of the insulating material Ethenon, which looked like obsidian and felt like hardened leather, and it kept the electric blue-colored saber blade from electrifying the hilt itself. When it came into contact with solid matter, more sparks than normal would fly, and a few crackling bolts would zap anything nearby not controlled by the force, therefore making the user vulnerable if they can't control the way the lightning goes. He holds the electrosaber in a reverse grip and his SS in a regular style, while Silina holds hers normally. She dashes at a quick speed towards him, going in for an under the belt strike, which is defended by the reverse-gripped electrosaber, causing a few dozen jolts to strike into Silina, which she brushes off using her force augmentation to quickly deliver a series of strikes and blows, most either parried or blocked by the SS or the ES, yet she brushes off any of the pain or damage from the small lightning and keeps up a heavy barrage, using a few swipes or low kicks to try and knock him off balance, one of them getting through, knocking his mask off his face, and clattering to the ground near them.

She can see that he keeps a straight face while fighting, sweating only slightly after 20 minutes of it, due to wearing a mask for 15 minutes of those 20, and as well as dealing with her heavy blows. Finally, she breaks through at one point and manages to slightly cut his arm, tearing his cloak a bit, but a powerful kick is the response, the counterattack sudden and unexpected, sending her backwards a slight amount, and as she focuses back to Fawkes he hits her thrice, elbowing her face, as he keeps the momentum to hit her additionally with the hilt and the side of his fist, stunning her briefly as he kicks her in the stomach, sending her to her knees on the ground as the heavy boots combined with heavy dark side, powerful augmentation leads to a large amount of pain. He retracts his electrosaber and puts it back on his belt, before pointing the tip of the SS to her snout.

¨Well fought, but unfortunately, not enough. Good usage of the force, it's much better when you use it for agility.¨

¨Thanks..sorry about cutting you..¨

¨I essentially falcon kicked you in the stomach. Apologies from my end are more significant. Apologies, by the way.¨

He lowers his blade, sheathes it, and walks over to retrieve his mask, when he feels a rumble.

…

The pirate captain, Chenso, a Gungan scoundrel, had been told by an unknown employer (he concluded it was an imperialist) that he would be paid 200,000 credits to attack a certain institution. It was small, and compared to the captain's crew of 700, they could certainly obliterate the force of less than 200 students, plus staff. Or so they thought. The captain was used to raiding export/import vessels, but this was 2 million dollars' worth of money, here, and he was well equipped in cockiness. As he approached the school, he was contacted by a hooded figure via holoprojector, who spoke in a distorted tone and couldn't be identified, except as the person who hired the captain.

¨What is it, boss?¨

¨I am informing you that there is a Jedi High Council member, the Supreme General, that is currently at the institution. Capture her, and I'll double the reward, plus repairs to armor, weapons, and your ship.¨  
¨Yousa crazy. I cannot-a take on the Jedi leader!¨  
¨I have placed a Sith assassin on the ship with you. She, along with an assistant assassin droid, will help you capture her accordingly. Use your tactics wisely, captain. I will be waiting for you at the Imperial Shipyard Ruins.¨  
¨I willsa be there, and yousa must tell me who they are.¨

¨Find the grey protocol droid with orange eyes, and the cybernetic Kaleesh.¨  
¨Ok. Meesa there now, I will be contacting yousa soon.¨  
¨Good.¨

The transmission ends, and the captain exits his cabin, to the helm of his ship. He shouts out the order on the loudspeaker to 'Board and Bomb', essentially fire cannons twice before boarding wherever it might be they are, in this instance, a huge floating school campus. They fire twice, once at the center of the Commons, another at the other end of the Staff Lounge section, before all of the attacking crew move out, the captain finding said crew before they leave. The Kaleesh was wearing a standard Kaleesh mask, with regular markings, and a light Techside battle armor outfit, essentially like Spider-man's costume material if it could defend against light blaster fire and some metal weapons, was shiny and black, and didn't cover the whole body, the stomach and feet left available for curious eyes. She had two arms, with two extra cybernetic arms, as well as metal cyborg plating over her stomach and feet. She had four identical lightsabers, that looked like a Jedi Temple Guardian's lightsaber pike, except colored dark, dark purple. The assassin droid was designed after the HK-47 model, minus the paint, added with spikes around the wrist and knees. It wielded a hybrid A-310 Charged Interceptor/E-111 Stealth-X Saboteur, that had a laser sight, the blaster bolts spread acid upon impact, and the beams were thin enough to slip through some crevices. It was also silenced, and looked very powerful on its own.

¨You two, and I, wesa gonna find the Jedi. I want you two to split up, I will go with-a the droid, yousa Sith lady, yousa more powerful, you go alone. Issa understood?¨

¨Yes, sir.¨  
¨COMMAND INPUT: GROUP EXECUTION PROTOCOL, INPUT COMPLETE.¨

¨Lessa go, then!¨

Chenso wielded dual Sith blades, old and archaic but sharp and to the point. He uses these to personally execute certain foes or enemies, but here, it's so he can join the fun.

Meanwhile, Fawkes picks his mask up.

"What's that rumbling?"

"An earthquake? I don't know…"

Silina walks towards him, as he suddenly puts on his Jedi disguise robes, hiding his real clothing, and putting his mask away, as Halley bursts through the door to the arena.

"You two! We're under attack, we need you to either help or leave!"

"I'll help." Responds Fawkes.

"Wha-...b-but you'll be hurt, or worse!" Silina cries out to him.

"I'll be o-ok, it's n-nothing too serious, right?"

"Well, pirates, but this is good preparation, guardian-in-training. Let's go!" Halley replies, heading out the door to fight an onslaught of Gungan Warriors, whilst Kes heads out with his lightsaber, and Silina follows.

"So you're a guardian in training?"

"No, my disguise wants to be a Jedi temple guardian."

"Got it...do you really want to be?"

"Nah. I've got better things to do."

He heads out with Silina to see 6 Gungan Warriors approaching, Halley running at near-impossible speed to help, but there are still twice as many Gungans than them. Nevertheless, they all engage, and lightsaber meets resistant metal. All are easily dispatched by the agile Jedi, the tactical disguised Sith, and the strength of the large Komodo. Of course, there are many more, but none even come close to being a challenge for the three, let alone even one of them. The staff and students fight much harder than expected by the Pirates, who had beforehand not known that Jedi and Sith both existed together at this school in peace and cooperated together, plus, only the Sith assassin knew of the powerful force presence that resided in the powerful institution, and even then, she never expected that she would be facing the Jedi high council Supreme General i 1. Of course, this is precisely what happened, as the three were nearly right below the ship. Ferr was not prepared for such a battle, once she saw the three, and backed off from her hiding spot to inside the school. Unfortunately, Kes spotted her, and force pulled her to them.

"H- hey, do you know what's going o-on?"

"Uh, not really... I just know that we can probably escape through the teleporter." She says, hoping to deceive them. It works, on the girls. However, having a very deep connection to the force, Kes reads her thoughts, as Halley sensed that she was trustworthy, thanks to the assassin's deep connection to manipulation allowed her to fool the general, as the general was not capable of detecting manipulation easily. Kes draws his lightsaber and ignites it.

"I read your thoughts. I don't believe you."

"Humph. So be it." She draws two of her sabers, holding one in one pair of arms, one in the other, and brings them down toward the small group. The strange design of Kes' lightsaber allowed him to block one easily, but the other caused the blade to knock wayward, nearly out of his hands, as the Silina and Halley draw their sabers to help defend against the attack, causing the assassin to pull one saber back to strike at Kes, the other two keep the other two at bay. She force pushes Halley away and kicks Silina, stunning her for a force push, so she can deal with Kes personally, one lightsaber blow causing his lightsaber to fly from his hands, another to slash across his face, slicing his face from his right eye to his chin, across his nose and mouth. She follow this up with two more slashes, only to result in a strange electrical noise, and she sees a semi-bright flash. When the brightness dies down, she sees quite a horrid site. A long, 4 inch-wide line was on Fawkes' face, and it was very different from the rest of his face. His skin was normal everywhere else, but here, inside this gash of sorts, his skin was burnt, scarred, and as pale as a zombie's ass, and his left eye's iris was entirely yellow. And on top of all that, his mouth was entirely upturned in a sadistic grin, the cut area showing teeth sharpened to a point, the rest simply normal, and he seemed to radiate an evil presence.

She tried hitting him again, only to find her lightsaber hitting air, as he force grabs to sabers, and smiles wider.

"This is where the fun begins, isn't it?"

She decides she wants no fun, and force leaps away, attempting to bail on the fight, only to feel her pulled down straight into the ground, smashing hard into the concrete of the sidewalk, her bones in her arms breaking and her metal arms caused much screeching as they tore open. She turns her head to see him standing above her, lightsabers drawn and activated.

"On your knees. I'll at least be kind enough to give you an execution."

She does as told, pain throbbing in her arms, as he raises his sabers.

"Time to receive, your eternal reward."

He begins to bring the sabers down, but stops as he hears blaster bolts reflecting off of lightsabers, as well as cortosis clashing as well. He turns around to see the assassin droid and the captain fighting the two women, and he turns back to the assassin, putting his sabers away.

"I want you to give your captain a message."

He raises his hands a bit.

"Darth Infernus could be a bit more subtle."

She soon feels immense pain as hot lightning rips through her skin, burning her severely in seconds, as he keeps up the attack more, her clothing catches fire, and as the flames lick her flesh, he stops the electrical assault, and dashes off to fight with the two women, leaving the assassin kaleesh to suffer. He flips several times before drawing his saber and decapitating the droid, the girls not yet observing his scars. He then turns and swipes both sabers at Chenso, both clashing the Gungan captain's blades, who was quite surprised to see a deranged smiling Sith suddenly flip in and take out his partner, the power of all three attackers overpowering the Gungan. He grins as he's beamed up by his ship, yet, Fawkes goes with him. A few minutes later, Fawkes returns, with the captain, who's burnt and looks like he's been the donkey in Pin the Tail on the donkey, except to the stomach. Fawkes is wearing his mask again and his normal cloak.

"Here. His fate is yours."

He drops the body to the ground and turns to walk away, only to feel his passage stopped as he's held by the force, and turned around. Halley is holding him with the force.

"You. You burnt Daxton, didn't you?"

"Yes. Best video I ever recorded. And you can tell him I personally returned the favor."

"What do you mean?"

"Ask him when he wakes from his coma. I have things to do, places to be, and I need to find that assassin so I can collect a trophy."

"You're coming with me, the trial for the murder of several knights and assault on Worship Council member Daxton is awaiting you."

"Really? The Jedi are ones to speak of murder? I'm surprised, not since the Mandalorian wars has such hypocrisy been observed from a general."

Halley holds back from speaking more, until she feels a huge pain in her head, as if someone was tearing out her brain. She drops Fawkes, holding her head in pain, until she too drops to the ground. Fawkes then smiles, her memory of the past 6 hours erased. He was in the clear.

Silina finally speaks after observing all of this.

"Are you fucking kidding me?! What did you just do?"

"Wiped her memory. Death for other's hypocrisy? Nah."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm sure Darth Infernus knows it best. Well, that, and I'm short on time, since I have to fix my face."

Silina physically grabs him and holds her arm across his chest, pressing his head into her stomach, and keeping him from moving.

"Hell. No. You've got to stop doing these things, or you're going to really need to fix your face, and if you do it again, I'LL DO IT FOR YOU. Now you're coming with ME, and I'm making YOU hang out with me. GOT IT?"

In secret, she very much enjoyed having power over Fein, loving that she could hold him close to her and he's not even resisting, appearing to comply.

"Ok. Can I still fix my face?"

"Huh?"

"You'll see. Lead the way, Dorothy, follow the yellow brick road. The Pirates won't be an issue."

She smiles that he won't put up a fight about going back, and picks him up, holding him so his head is just below her chin, and carries him to the dorm, sitting on the bed, still hugging him tightly. He lifts his arm to his mask and takes it off, his sadistic grin dissipated to a normal smile. He force grabs the chromo cube, orders out "Cybon Meta Fabric", a blue mainframe-like wire substance, and applies it to his face, causing the scarred appearance to disappear under his normal skin.

"What exactly happened to you?"

"Again. Darth Infernus will tell you from an unbiased point of view."

…

Darth Infernus stood before the cryotank, observing the dejected and horrifically burned Kaleesh. He smiles, and looks to the Muun Doctor.

"Make sure her blood and organs are perfect to a prime, and design her armor up be resistant to even the hottest of lightsabers. Finally, read Grievous' report until you know it by heart."

He looks back to the tank, at the body which will soon be better than ever.

"So hers won't burst into flame."


	5. Epsiode V

Espter sits at a table, with a sad, kind smile, facing 18 Jedi and the Dark jedi representative and his previous 'bodyguard' at the Allat Bounty Hunter Attack, Tots, known for loving potatoes, on older kind of food, and having a likeness for the color yellow, wearing dark yellow robes, his blade matched his robe color, his eyes were the shade of yellow, and his body was colored as such in tattoos.

"I'm afraid to say the Allat Bounty Hunter Leader, Calpa, has perished, due to the combined injuries my bodyguard inflicted upon him and the failure of medical equipment due to Geonosian blood idiosyncrasies." Of course, Calpa was alive and well, with a new chest and ribs, a different face and voice, and a fleet. He had gone to the correct Institution, the CITF, and murdered Song Loret, who knew secrets of Darth infernus, Espter's Sith personality. The bumbling idiot Infernus had hired to join him had attacked the wrong school. Calpa, however, had also wounded the Jedi High Council member Dara Shalte, severing her arm from the elbow down. Calpa was rewarded finely by Infernus by a new addition to his fleet and another day to live, while Chenso, the Gungan captain Infernus hired to aid Calpa, died due to his injuries, and the surviving crew was added to Calpa's fleet.

"The Jedi Supreme General was returned to the Jedi council by a young jedi named Kes.." Who, as Infernus knew, was Fawkes,"..who had fought with her to defeat the Gungan Pirate, who perished as well, from a fatal wound. We have rewarded the young man with a position as Jedi Temple Guardian, during the times he isn't at school, of course."

"Espter, are you sure that's a good idea? A Padawan being a guardian?" Asked the Jedi council leader, Kin Moran, a young African American male and brother to Nyt Moran. Head shaved with a tattoo of the Jedi Republic replacing hair, slight stubble, and all his limbs working.

"Nonseeense!" His voice sounds as soft as an elderly man, despite him being in his late 30's. "It is no doubt a good test for him to pass on his way to Jedi Knight, no doubt, hm?"

"With all due respect, Espter, a New Order Senator has trust but it is shallow, for you know you are allied with a government that governs the dark side."

"And you must know, my friends, I am the Devil's Advocate here. I do not necessarily agree with the practices, code, or..rituals of the Jedi, but I look at the common ground for both the New Order and the Jedi Order." He smiles warmly.

Kin smiles faintly, before speaking in his gruff voice again.

"Then you're aware of the Shadowtrooper production?"

Espter's smile falters into a disappointed-looking frown.

"Shadowtroopers? Those haven't been used since the Fall of the Empire."

"We have word that the Sith Lord and Leader of the New Order, Darth Infernus, is implanting young children, some suspected to be abducted, with bionics and training them to fight with lightsabers and other deadly weapons in enhanced Shadowtrooper armor, which is now sleeker, darker, has better tech, and now comes with a fire design all over the helmet and the armor itself. Are you aware of this?"  
"No, this is the first I've heard of it. How long has this been held from me?"

Kin sighs. He knows that the Prime Senator of the New Order has connections to the Sith Council, but even Kin should've known that the Sith are master manipulators.

"We ask you to discuss this with the Sith New Order Council and try to shut down the operation in the senate if you can. This has gone on for 20 years."

Espter is stunned, despite knowing the entire time.

"Immediately! I will resolve this matter as soon as possible."

"Yes. One last thing. Daxton, the Bear of the Worship Council, and good friend to my brother of the Jedi High Council, normally trains Jedi Temple Guardians. But due to his injuries, he is unable to train him, and we do not know ourselves, but do you know of anyone in your council trustful enough to train him that we could also bug?"

"I know of one indeed. But spying?"

"It is the safest way to monitor them."

Espter smiles sadly again.

"Of course."

…

Darth Infernus speaks, in the Lead Chair in the circle of the Sith New Order Council, to Fawkes, who stands in the middle of the Hexagon Room, the room where the SIth New Order Council resides.

"You know your duties, Lord of Lightning." Infernus says, referring to Fawkes' nickname after his demonstrations of absurd power in force lightning.

"To learn secrets, sabotage technology, and most of all….record the ritual."

"You have much wisdom, boy, to read my mind. Use it well. Your schooling?"  
"Exceptional. My disguise is working: my force illusion is working better than expected. Kes is an outstanding but meek, mild, and soft-spoken student. I, for one, am excelling as well, now treated with less fear and more respect, for my role in killing Chenso, as well as Kes rescuing the Jedi Supreme General. I must be quick, many Jedi are to speak with me soon."

"Yes, indeed. It is unfortunate you didn't simply kill Halley and spare Chenso, but both acts were necessary, I know. I orchestrated the event well. Your apprentice, the one that is also just about your age, perhaps she could participate in this as well?"

"Yes, that would work well. She also assisted in 'saving' Halley, although that is her Sith persona. If she could be disguised…"

"Exactly. Your past is being examined by the Jedi, who will no doubt not see through your disguise as Kes Inusger, yet there is a Jedi that could be masqueraded as by your apprentice. May Tesn, a formless Jedi that recently attempted to form herself as The Komodo on a mission, and went missing. She must be thoroughly briefed, but this formless Jedi will be declared a hero for helping a Worship Council Member, no doubt gaining a position as "teacher" after we say we found the Jedi on an Outer Rim system, and we offer it as a gift of trust. This will definitely lead to the downfall of the Jedi Temple."

"Perfectionistic planning as usual, my lord."

"Indeed. Now, go, meet with the Jedi, after briefing your apprentice."

Infernus nods, as do the other Sith New Order Council members, and Fawkes bows, before walking out.

…

When told the news, Silina nearly broke Fawkes' ribs in her ecstatic celebration.

After she calmed down (a bit), they discussed it further.

"This is SOOOOOOO cool! We get to work together for the Jedi Temple! Buuuuut, not. Right?"

"Yes. Basically."

"Yayyyyyy! And I get to be popular :3"

"In a sense, yes."

"What does Infernus mean by rituals?"  
"You do not know? You will soon enough."  
"Pllleeease just tell me?"  
"Words won't do. They are not loud enough. Actions are."

"Awwww. Ok, ok. So, how do I learn how to be a female version of my dad that was a different person already?"

Fawkes stops moving for a few moments, before looking to her.

"Your father is The Komodo?" 

Silina realizes her tongue slipped, and sighs for a moment before looking back to Fawkes.

"Yes. Because of the science behind him, he's still twice my age, of course, but yes. He stopped the aging process the scientists instilled in him, like other council members, and when I somehow had it too, he stopped that himself. But something must've messed up, because I haven't felt right since. And that's why he's on the Worship Council and I'm…"

"...a sith apprentice to the Lightning Lord?"

"Apprentice?"

"Do you not want that?"

Silina smiles as wide as she can.

"I dooooooo, but can't partners count the same?"

Fawkes chooses his next words carefully in case her definition of partners is different than his or his context.

"Well, you wish to learn more of the Force, yes?"

"Yah! All of it :3"

"Well, in a sense, becoming part of the Rule of Two binds us together until one of us dies, rebels, or kills the other. So…"

"Like marriage?"

"Kinda the same principle, but no. That binds by love. The Rule of Two binds by hate and/or mutual bonds of the force: one to teach to allow another to gain power and to gain such power, by the standards of the Sith New Order."

"Hypothetical question...could a master/apprentice still get married if they are in the Rule of Two?"  
"As far as I know, yes."

She smiles wider, flicking her tongue out.

"Yesh. I will be your apprentice."

"We'll do the ritual later. But for now, finish."

"Oh, right. Well, as you can tell, I don't talk to my dad anymore. But he might talk to me if I'm this Jedi lady who saved his life disguised as a girl version of dad. A bit like me. But bigger, stronger, and a bit more womanly."

"I can guess. I'll give you the needed information, but you need to let go of me and hold still."

"Can I give you one last hug?"

Fawkes really doesn't mind at this point, actually liking the affection. It's overbearing to others, but remember, his family was killed before he hit puberty and he's been filled with a ton of hate and malice ever since, only melting down as his vengeance is enacted more and more.

"Sure. I don't see why n-" He's cut off mid sentence as her bear hug robs him of his air.

"Sorry…"

"I'm.." Inhale. "..alright."

She unwraps her arms from him and he slides off of her lap, putting a hand to her forehead. She feels an immense pressure in her head, brain, and spine, as all the info, memories, history, and knowledge of a person's life is slammed into her mind. After 15 minutes, it starts to slow, and she faints, waking up 15 minutes later to feel heavier, kinda strange, and a little bit more powerful. Sitting up, she notices two things: she's taller, and secondly, not wearing any clothes. She blushes immensely and looks around for Fawkes, only to see red/gold/white robes on the bed next to her, a few items that she recognizes from her new memories as belonging to May, a note in neat, cursive handwriting, and a few other miscellaneous items relating to her May disguise, as well as her other clothes she was wearing before, clothes to wear under her new robes, and a checklist. She reads the note first.

-Dear Silina,

I had to change your appearance to match that of May's altered form, and in doing so, had to remove your clothes so they wouldn't stretch. Worry not, I didn't do anything inappropriate, but I did it out of knowing you would most likely not like stretched clothes. I have items for you on the bed, that you should recognize from your new memories, and clothes I thought you would like. I had to leave for my Jedi Interview, and you probably should too. If you need anything, leave a message. Thanks for hopefully reading this :),

Fawkes.

P.S. Your old stuff is there too.-

She smiles, and reads the checklist, mainly the things he put on her bed.

+Lightsaber, light blaster pistol, medium cortosis stiletto, energy shield, spare lightsaber, ammo, grenades, Jedi Comm Unit, tracker devices, invisibility tech, adrenaline syringe, ear implants, sensitivity reducer, assorted items in utility belt, and utility belt.+

She wonders what the sensitivity reducer is and realizes it's from being May: her body is sensitive to urges and such, and Silina already was hormonally charged, now increased to a new high with the transformation process. She implants them on her stomach, below her chest, and feels the increase of muscle that now resides there. Her entire body is bigger, her hips wider, her figure bigger, her arms and legs have more muscle: she feels as if she's older, and that's probably what happened, considering that May was 8 years older than Silina. Silina puts the clothes laid out on the bed first, a red shirt with an Old Republic symbol on the middle, words below saying 'Peace with the Force', with blue windpants, and then dresses herself in the robes, red with silk, gold embroidery around the chest and arms, tailored white around the sleeves, ends, and waist. She then equips the utility belt, on her regular clothes, and puts away all the items necessary, including the double-bladed lightsaber and spare one-ended saber May carried. She puts her ear implants in, allowing her to hear everything perfectly, instead of everything being blaringly loud. She also attaches the invisibility tech to her arms, the two wires there were wrapping around her arms and winding back her arm up to her back, where they connect into her robes.

With everything ready, she puts her old clothes away, heads to a transport terminal as discreetly as possible, and teleports to a far-off location near a jedi temple, where the Dark Jedi trusted by the temple for years leads her there.

…

After over 2 hours of playing 'catch up' with the Jedi Interviewers and reciting her background perfectly, she spars with a jedi trainer to test if she is still in physical condition. After the fight, they evaluate her as 43 points, which is quite powerful, the rank of Jedi Master, but lower than the 47 May had before. Once you reach 50 points of aptitude, you start being considered for being a council member, 70 is where the High Council rank could come into play, but only the Worship Council can reach above 89 Jedi aptitude points. She was determined to require a bit of a recourse to return to her level of potential, and then she took the grueling 6-hour long test to determine if her mind had been warped by the sith any after the past 3 years she had gone missing. They determined she was still a faithful jedi and still capable of training JTG (Jedi Temple Guardians). She was informed of two new trainees: Kes, and an Ithorian named Karka. She smiles as she expects to see Kes soon enough to speak with him on where to start training.

Meanwhile, Darth Infernus sat in his meditation chamber, when a coded knock came to the door. Infernus waves the door open, and Calpa bows to a knee.

"My lord, I have learned of the whereabouts of the missing jedi, May."

"Sit down, Calpa. You must be caught up."

After sitting down, and the briefing of the mission, Calpa nods.

"Now, Geonosian, your task approaches."

"Sir?"  
"You have a role in this."

"What do you ask of me? I am a bounty hunter."

"Yes, now reborn, and perfectly able to get through the Temple if masquerading as a security guard."

"What shall I do?"  
"You are to plant bombs at the temple, and pretend to rescue Kes after his 'injuries' of the bomb blast, but leave the Ithorian to die, if not place him closer to the bombs in the first place. Your rank will rise, and further you can go into the Temple, no questions asked, to start revealing Jedi secrets."

"Yes, sir."  
"I will give you all the information you need to fake a background. You will accompany me on a diplomatic mission, and an operative will 'attempt to assassinate' me. You will then 'save' me and 'kill' the operative, as realistic as possible. Understood? This will let the Jedi trust you as I offer you as a security guard. Are you ready?"

"Yes. My weapons are primed and so am I, my lord."

"Good. Prepare my ship."

…

"Ah! Kin, Nyt, good to see you both." Espter's soft voice is comforting and assuring to his supposed pacifism and kindness, and is no different here as he greets the two Jedi in the landing bay when he lands.

"Pleasant seeing you here, both of you. I have a few pieces of small good news and then a lovely piece of great news awaiting you both."

Both of the Jedi give a small smile, rare for them, given their serious disposition.

"We have good news too, Espter. Come, let us speak inside."

As the day wanes and Coruscant darkens in the upper city, the three head inside, into the area where the Galactic Senate used to reside, now held for conferences across the galaxies in politics. Ever since the Fall of the Empire, the dark side is governed by the New Order, the light side by the Jedi Order, or by independent systems. Espter, the Prime Minister of the New Order Senate, represents the highest government authority representative of the dark side, Darth Infernus the High Leader until recently, due to the Temple bombings: which will be discussed soon.

"I have good news regarding some personnel, Nyt. Shall I begin?"

"Go on, Senator."

"Firstly, I would like to announce the arrival of a Geonosian Security Guard at the Temple, that has come here to present himself, as a recommendation of service."

Calpa steps forward, now in Security armor, with no more scars, and blue eyes with yellow contact lenses, marking a Geonosian with perfect vision.

"Able to see into the deepest depths, the highest altitudes, and with reflexes and honor to the brim of any account, I recommend Alka Tun as a security guard. His last employer was myself, and his contract has ended, and I wish to recommend him to you."

The Geonosian nods and lays a sword at his feet and salutes the Jedi, showing deep respect, impressing both Nyt and Kin. As he sheathes his blade, the Geonosian twitches before shoving Espter aside, a plasma bullet hurtling to the ground in his place, before returning fire at an attacker outside the doorway into the area, who runs, the Geonosian pursuing with ease and killing him with a shot to the head, letting the would-be fake attacker fall down the depths into Coruscant traffic, where he will be picked up and taken to the Sith New Order Council. As Espter rises to his feet, assisted by Kin, Nyt sees the Geonosian put away his gun and return to duty, standing beside Espter.

"Senator Espter, are you alright?" Inquires the worried Nyt.

"Yes, yes, thanks to my security. It is very fortunate he was here, and lucky for you, too. He is most exceptional, hm?"

Both the leading Jedi nod, while everyone in the conference room, designed like the Galactic Senate but with more communication tech and visible screens, applauds Calpa. Calpa wonders if he should have actually quit bounty hunting to do this: as far as Infernus has told him, security is paid well, while also being appreciated. Of course, hard times led him to his current position as terrorist in disguise…

"We no doubt see the potential of such a bodyguard. However, he will be evaluated for Dark Side traits to test his loyalty before we accept him. However, if he passes, consider yourself lucky you managed to find such a good bodyguard, to now guard one of the most important locations in the galaxy."

"Thank you, Master Jedi. I have more good news, as well, shall we continue?" Espter motions gently to his chair and to the Jedi's areas.

"Yes, continue." Kin says, before following his elder brother to their area, for the Lead Jedi.

Espter addresses the audience, and they pay good attention. He wears Senatorial red robes, embellished with gold and a symbol of the New Order Senate, a hexagon with fiery spikes formed on the inside all around the interior, small semi-circles appearing on the exterior, one for each dozen fire spikes, and these robes make him mighty grand.

"We have found May Tesn, and she is currently undertaking Worship Council Daxton's role as he recuperates from his unfortunate injuries."

Immense applause as the heroic Jedi, thought as somewhat of a martyr, is announced to have made her return, and as far as her personality goes, she was likable and sociable, easily adaptable, leading to her popularity even more.

"We have evaluated that she is still loyal to the Jedi despite being rescued by the Sith, and we are hoping to keep her safe this time." Nyt states.

"When we had discussed the training of JTG's earlier, I had been asked to find someone with the most trust to train them, but before that could happen, we luckily discovered Miss May, and we presented her back to the Jedi."

A few hushed whispers are heard at the news of the Sith and Jedi cross together. Espter's smile fades a bit, as if disappointed to hear the whispering. Nyt sees this and senses worry in the middle-aged senator, a faked feeling, but Infernus is powerfully connected to the force, able to manipulate feelings, the mind, the body, and sight better than anything else. Inanimate objects and force powers such as lightning are of less use to him, leaving him less advanced in these sections, but powerful nonetheless.

"Now, before I proceed, the Master Jedi have informed you of the unprecedented discovery of Shadowtrooper production, yes?"

The conference room is abuzz as voices ring out in either surprise, agreement, or shock.

"Quiet, our good senator Espter will explain the good news relating to this, yes?" Kin exclaims, absolutely ready to hear the info regarding this. Kin's and Nyt's great-grandfather, Mace Windu, could fight nearly anyone or anything, but their

Great-grandmother was killed by Shadowtroopers as she attempted to escape the slaughter during Order 66. Nyt shoots a sharp look to Kin for his imprudence, and despite Kin noticing, he stares at Espter, hunched over in anticipation.

"I have discussed the issue with Darth Infernus, and not only was I able to inform him of the discovery so he was entirely honest, or as I would assume, but I recorded the conversation. Shall I play it?"

Kin sits up a bit straighter, while Nyt shifts a bit. Seeing Darth Infernus at his own Council Area would most likely reveal his intentions to the Jedi, rather than on hologram, where he can do what he like. Upon Espter turning the hologram on, we see Espter and Infernus talking, Espter simply a force illusion at this point.

"Sir, the Jedi are wondering about the Shadowtrooper Production. They know that you've operated it for 20 years, and what's more, they ask for you to shut it down. I understand that perhaps you must have good intentions behind this, but I had no knowledge of-"

"I will see to it personally that it is shut down. I was preparing a fleet, for my new ship, to accompany me. I wish to be able to defend myself, should the Jedi wish to attack me. I am at a grave disagreement with the Jedi due to the Temple bombings they suspect I was part of. Simply untrue, yet the perpetrator, Darth Gredion, being dead, all the anger still existing among the light side, they blame me. Nonetheless, I trust the Shadow Troopers, but I will assign them to new positions across the galaxy, give them new names, and end the production, on the condition that if any Jedi hunt the troopers down, the Sith will retaliate. Understood, Espter?"  
"Yes, Lord Infernus."

"Good. Jedi Council Member May is doing well, yes?"

"Yes, sir. She is ready for departure to the Temple, well healed from her wounds, and is fit to join the council again."

"Gooooood. We don't want our gift of expensive, fine glass to be shattered, do we? No, no, we can't. Make sure she stays in excellent condition. You are dismissed, senator." Infernus says Senator with a slight bit of disdain. Espter bows, and the holo ends.

Uproar breaks out, as the Jedi sympathizers are crying either Sith treachery, a miraculous change of heart, or fabrication, Sith sympathizers shouting their triumphs that the Sith can be trusted and that perhaps they aren't corrupted officials, that the Jedi are showing prejudice and hatred, neutral sides and independent systems chattering of the conversation, Nyt and Kin discussing the matter discreetly, and Espter smiling in bliss. He just brought chaos to the Orders, unexpectedly.

"When was this holo recorded?" A Kaleesh Senator cries out.

"Just a day ago, as I prepared for this meeting. I met with him and left immediately after to retrieve Miss May, after checking her condition of course, and packing my things for Coruscant."

"What of the Temple bombings? Any news there?" A news representative exclaims, looking to Nyt rather than Espter. Nyt looks to the news reporter.

"We have studied and we know that at least 2 Sith New Order council members perpetrated the attack, with 2 Sith Council members, and that-"

"You said it was Darth Infernus and Darth Gredion in the last meeting, 'without a doubt.'"

"We had all beliefs that it was-"

"So you admit it was a hunch based on prejudice, not based upon factual evidence?" The reporter presses.

"We knew of Darth Gredion's involvement, he had left his calling card by carving two intersecting Galactic Empire symbols on rubble, and-"

"And? What of Infernus?"  
"He leads the Sith! We had nearly every reason to believe he was behind the attack!" Kin shouts back.

"Yet, you did not explain this to Infernus as you went to kill Gredion, rather than arrest the culprit, or give Infernus a fair trial, believing them to be beyond mercy?"

Nyt holds a hand in front of Kin, warning him not to respond, leading Kin to close his eyes and breathe deeply.

"We had sent an order to kill Gredion, as we believed him too dangerous to be left alive, yes."

The room explodes with volume at the statement.

…

Kes stands outside the Ritual of Tribulation Chamber, along with Karka, Silina checking in every few minutes to gauge how the two are doing. May asks Karka to follow her, as she notices his lightsaber is slightly dysfunctional when she asks him to light it, the blade being jagged, the sign of a cracked crystal. When they leave, Kes shuts off the security cameras by activating a jammer, before slipping into the room using the codes given to him, locking it back, before as silently as possible, using his Chromocube to put away his Kes disguise and put on his regular cloak and his mask, before activating invisibility and sneaking further in, holo recorder active. He sees a table, with two young children on it, both having Sith Energy readers attached. A Jedi Priest and a Dark Jedi stand in front of the table, next to the table being Daxton, mostly outfitted with armor and medical tech that keeps him alive, much like Darth Vader, except it being colored white and purple, and the suit looking more like a JTG's outfit. The Priest starts giving a speech about the force and the afterlife of the force, before stopping, possibly sensing a presence in the room, before brushing it off, continuing, and then motioning to the Dark Jedi. The Dark Jedi holds their hand high in the air, and the children are paralyzed, before holding a lightsaber in both hands, downward, and turning them on, moving them slightly forward, opening the children's stomachs, and the Priest ignores the screaming of the children, holding his hand out, and they scream louder and harder as their force and essentially soul is being sucked out, restoring power to Daxton, and upon their screaming coming to a close, the Dark Jedi cuts them in half, the Priest placing their bodies on the ground, lighting the area up a bit, before telling the Dark Jedi to start the incinerator. It's seen then by Fawkes, for the second time, that the floor has dozens of children, the youngest being 1 month old, covering the ground. This ritual has been done for at least a dozen years after the fall of the empire: uncorrupted power strengthening those that are weak.

He witnessed this at one point, in a vision, and he supposes he's only truly seen it once, the vision and now being the same. Fawkes grimaces in the view of it: the Jedi doing things behind closed doors and pretending it doesn't exist. But it matters not. He has what he needs. He walks all the way back to the doors, and as the two sacrificers start the ritual of burning the bodies of the children, the Priest speaking loudly, He activates his Chromocube, putting his disguise on and taking his mask and clothes off, before putting the cube away, unlocking the doors, locking them back, closing them, and after a minute or so turning the jamming device off, allowing the cameras to work again. He had also placed bombs inside the room, by accidentally-on purpose dropping a few on the ground when exiting the room.

Kes counted down the minutes, waiting patiently but anxiously for Calpa to call him to something, and for May to come back with Karka. Sure enough, he hears the humming of the Geonosian, who tells him of an 'issue of pressing concern', and leads him away, as May leads Karka back, thanking him for his good effort, before walking away. Moments later, Karka hears a beeping sound, one he recognizes from his training: the priming of mass plasma bombs. Before he can react, a detonation sweeps through the area, also impacting Kes and Calpa, as well as May (Silina), sending May forward from the sonic blast, and both Kes and Calpa tumbling down the stairs they were walking upon, leaving all three with slight burns due to the friction in the air caused by the blasts, and their ears ringing. An alarm sounds, the alarm of an intruder, before a smaller detonation takes place near the blast zone, this from the bombs that Kes had set, and this one carved a large wolf's head with fiery spikes for teeth and surrounded by barbed chains, the signature symbol of the Dark Jedi Lupus Houndair, a wolf that leads a mercenary group, comparable to Wolf O'Donell. This leads the blame to him and away from Infernus, and as guards and two Jedi Council members rush to the scene, the evidence of any involvement of Kes, Calpa, Silina, or Infernus is gone and most importantly, blamed upon someone else.

…

Espter looks out at the entire conference room, filled with delegates, representatives, news teams, and appearing in public, both The Raven and Darth Infernus (supposedly. It's an illusion.) appearing in close proximity. Darth Infernus' face cannot be seen, but his mouth can slightly be seen, in an unpleasant grimace, heavily sunken skin that's notably pale visible as well, around his chin. A slight glow emanates from his hood, assumed to be his eyes. The Raven dresses in a black robe with a white cowl, underneath wearing a blazer, covering a white dress shirt and red tie, as well as black dress pants, wearing his belt at his side, a two-bladed curved lightsaber with pointed spikes around the grips and lightsaber nozzle, with a simpler design: all black, except white stripes near the spikes.

He clears his throat and raises his hands, and the chatter in the room subsides. Since The Raven is present, he represents the Jedi High Council and Jedi Council, as well as filling the Worship Council spot for the first time in months. He also has the most power in the room, besides Infernus, and both are in front of Infernus a fair bit, while Halley and Espter share a fair amount of the same power. Supreme Commander Iblis controls the military more than politics, usually not appearing, but when he does, he often has a little bit more political ground than Halley, being second-in-command to Infernus, but being nearly entirely military.

"It is with great displeasure that I must announce that the Jedi Temple has been attacked." An explosion of noise occurs in the room as The Raven publicly speaks for the first time in a year, as well as with a slight British-sounding accent and 30 years of age, a lot of those years artificial. In reality, the Raven has been around for 18 years, and ages the second-slowest, behind The Phoenix.

"We also have the even greater displeasure to say that the Jedi Lupus Houndair seems to be the perpetrator, leaving a calling card behind. We believe that after cutting off relations with Lupus a week ago, due to personal issues he was having, he has done a truly despicable act of revenge. 56 Padawan children were incinerated due to the blast, as well as a Jedi Priest, a Dark Jedi visiting for political purposes, and injured a newcomer Jedi Temple Guardian, security guard, and the newly returned Miss May Tesn." Espter pauses to let that sink in before looking down a bit, his face turning to that of grief and regret.

"And with great melancholy, I announce that Worship Council Member, Daxton the Bear, has died at synthetic age 40, actual age 19, due to the injuries of the blast and electrocution due to circuitry overload."

Silence fills the room as the shock rises as hot air does, and sinks below as the noise in the room becomes intolerable and unbearable, arguing, exclamations, profanity, questions, inquiries for details by the news team, and glances. The Raven, this being the first time he has heard of this, is in disbelief, beak agape. He looks over to Darth Infernus to gauge his reaction, seeing that the Lord of the Sith has leaned back in his seat a bit, his grimace the same. As The Raven looks away, Darth Infernus lowers his head and smiles. It had gone better than expected. He waves his hand lightly, and all the anguish, anger, and other emotions in the room are lowered a bit in magnitude, and he leans his head back again, looking to Espter. Espter looks to his own illusion, surprised it was working so well, but pleased at his own abilities, and holds his hands out wide, holding them up. He waits for the conference room the become quiet, save for some leftover conversations, crying, and a few conspiracies forming already.

"We are putting great effort to assist the Jedi, Dark Jedi Relations Team, and the Scoundrels of the Light Side in investigating this travesty, and locating Lupus. I send my condolences, as does the rest of the Sith Council and Sith New Order Council, as do the rest of my peers. We h-" Darth Infernus stands, hands at his side, before slowly raising them, drawing in the negative emotions in the area to himself as people look to him, and Espter can feel his own illusion gaining a more real body than ever. The illusion has become more of a clone than a real illusion, but has an altered appearance, of course. Darth Infernus holds his hands together, at his waist, as he addresses the crowd.

"It may interest those in this room that a new development has come into effect into this investigation as of a few moments ago. I have received word from my investigative team that there is camera footage of where the bombs were placed, or more specifically, of why, as I'm told. This footage has not been altered, received only moments ago and discovered just a few minutes past." Infernus informs the room with a grave-toned, raspy, rocky voice.

Infernus starts to walk towards a panel, to show the holo recording of the event, but The Raven stands to address him, holding his hand out.

"Infernus, that may reveal graphic footage to the crowd, and this isn't exactly legal-"

"To the Jedi. So any Jedi worried about offending their code may leave now. However, those who are not bound by code to disregard fresh legal documents which may bear way to graphic and/or gruesome material, stay."

The Raven is a bit shocked to know that Infernus nearly perfectly quoted from the Jedi Code, despite being a Sith all his life, and Jedi only being killed when in his presence, most often. He must've found it illegally or in some manner that could be shady…

"Infernus, that is not a fair nor appropriate way to reveal evidence-"

"Quiet, Edgar Allan Poe, for this very well could lead someone to produce evidence of prior knowledge."

At first, a couple smiles come up as Infernus nicknames The Raven, but soon the whole room is as shocked as The Raven that Infernus knew The Raven's true name, last used when the Raven was created, as a placeholder, but the true name never came, as Edgar knew, giving the Raven the name relating to his species. Infernus couldn't have read it from the mind of Edgar, nor have known of his birth documents, due to the Raven having them locked far away in the Worship Council chamber, with the rest of the WC's birth documents and sensitive information. So Infernus knew something that was essentially impossible to know. What else could he know…?

"How did...you…" The Raven's calm manner has deteriorated into nervousness and slight possible panic.

Darth Infernus raises his head ever so slightly, and the glow from his eyes is just a bit more easily seen.

"Secrets are among the weak. Hidden truths are for the strong of mind and wise of wisdom. Aren't you supposed to be the smart one? Now, shall we continue and stop this little back-and-forth?"

Edgar is too stunned to respond, and the rest of the room is quiet in anticipation as Infernus is about to tap the Show Senate (the panel is mostly designed off of the old areas, except bigger and more advanced, like the rest of the conference chairs.) Current Hologram, until he feels his hand stopped, and looks to his side, to see The Raven holding his hand out, stopping the Sith. The room grows tense and gasps are heard, as Espter frowns lightly. His illusion is powerful, but he doesn't trust its force abilities. He looks to Edgar, and hands clasped together at his waist as Infernus had, he moves his index finger and middle finger lightly in a slight wave, returning it, and at that time Edgar is slammed into the wall of his area. Infernus not having moved, and being one for choking, isn't believed to have done it in an instant, as Espter can read through the minds. Through Edgar's mind, the panic of a dark secret being revealed is forthcoming. The room is loud with sound as the tension grows higher, the illusion drinking in power, and right before he reveals the holo recording, the Raven throws the Sith's hood back, doing one last thing to try and hide the secret. Everyone looks in horror and slight disgust at the Sith's face.

Infernus' skin is sunken and nearly as pale as marble, with wrinkles and severe scars lining his face, bags under his eyes heavy and dark, a scar from what seems to be force lightning going over his entirely white left eye, spare a single yellow dot in the middle where the iris would be present, the glow mostly coming from his orange right eye, his head not covered by hair but by burn marks, his nose no longer with him and his upper lip nearly torn off, as it would seem, but really it is simply missing; his cheeks look as if they are ready to lose the skin and become sockets, his ears almost gone, and his forehead covered in small symbols and what looks like bone. He puts the hood back on with the force, but it is far too late now: cameras got a look at him. And what they saw was horrifying. But now, they see him grin, his teeth as sharp as a shark's, his canines a bit larger than the others. He presses the button on the console, and the recording starts playing, and everyone watches in horrified awe, disgusted shock, and anguished eyes as they watch the 6-minute long ceremony, and the 2 minute suffering of the children, before the Priest gives the incineration command, the time frame showing it was at 12:45 Republic time, and the holo shuts off. The holo now shows regular, video footage of Kes standing outside the room, at the same time as when the footage ended, and a few minutes later, Calpa comes, now known as Alka, talking of the 'issue', or as stated in the video, a suspicious figure, and Karka returns with Miss May, and as she turns and walks away a different way the men had left, the explosion goes off, the Camera distorted as the vibration nearly destroys it. The camera then cuts to 5 minutes later, when it is working properly, showing security, medics, and Jedi looking at the wolf head, going into the room, and looking in the surrounding area. The hologram disappears, and as the cameras no longer appear on Espter, he smiles wide, knowing that the Fall of the Jedi is at hand.


	6. Episode VI

The Jedi were ruined, and this was effectively inferred from anything and everything that had happened on the holo recording presented. Equally major shocks were seen at the appalling physical state of the Lord of the Sith, Darth Infernus, and the small force scuffle that had occurred in the conference room. The Jedi had heavy flak coming from all sides, galactic law enforcement investigating and pressing several charges, such as abduction, torture, mass murder, and others, from the contents of the video as they are investigated. For the time being the Worship council's remaining members are held under house arrest, for fear of what they might attempt, the Jedi High Council also under Temple arrest, with the Jedi Council searching for Lupus, and a few of the law enforcement officials are requesting to examine Infernus, with polite declines.

Infernus calls in Fawkes a day after the Conference Hearing, as well as Silina (who discarded May's style of robes for disguise robes), and both arrive to see that no one else is there aside from Infernus.

"Welcome back, my pupils. I have news and words to exchange with you both, and a good note, as well."

"Thank you for calling us here, we are honored to have served in the beginning of the fall of the Jedi." Fawkes says, bowing.

"Agreed, it's such an important event, and we were part of it, very pleasing indeed." Silina chimes in.

Infernus nods and motions to them both.

"You two have assisted greatly. Especially you, Fawkes, in planting the Lupen Bombs, the guise of a hero for Calpa, and, of course...their names."

Silina looks a bit quizzically at Fawkes.

"Whose names?" She asks.

Infernus raises his head a bit.

"The Worship Council, of course. How else would I be able to know something as well kept as that? I'm the Lord of the Sith, not Sherlock Holmes. Mind reading can only go so far."

Silina has a very surprised feeling at this point. No one knows the Worship Council's names except for...the offspring.

"You're related to one of the Worship Council Members?!"

"No. Not anymore." Fawkes replies.

"Indeed, he did know them closely once." Infernus nods sagely.

"Well..what do you mean?"

"I used to be close. And then it ended.."

Fawkes removes his mask, revealing that he is not wearing his cybernetic mask under it, at all. Burn marks are everywhere across his face, aside from his mouth, which has two large cuts near the edges, the rest of his face looking like he tried to kiss a running lawnmower during an acid bath, his eyes pure and deep yellow, his teeth serrated and his canines missing.

"With this. Your father and Daxton, during the first day of the Revolution, mauled me, wanting to protect the group from possible persecution, and the other two left me to die. And I held on to my hatred of them for betraying me, until I managed to get inside. And killed anyone who came in, rationing my supplies and raiding others' homes that had been abandoned, the inhabitants killed/kidnapped/dead, or other forms of finding supplies. But some scars can't heal, while others won't. The only good thing the Worship Council did that day and after is set my path to the dark side."

…

Fein, now around 10 years old, was outside, re-reading the newspaper that had come that morning. A large-scale revolution had taken place by the anthros after years of discrimination. He was worried yet confident not to worry: his friends would most likely not participate. His parents had moved away for a while and left him in the care of his older cousin, who was around 30 years old, and lived in the same house as his parents had with her. His parents would return a few years later after they assumed the revolution in the area had died down (they died down for assuming wrong, of course.). But for now, he was waiting for his friends, each of them physically older but in actuality as old or younger than him. Edgar and Fate had minds that advanced faster as well, but all were physically around 20, except for Daxton, who was physically 26.

What he didn't know would hurt him greatly, but what his friends knew hurt even worse. As they approached, Fein not noticing, Daxton and Gerry were wearing their jackets, despite it being summer. Edgar and Fate did not, because they were not hiding things inside their clothing. Fein looks up as they approach and smile, his red hair nearly going to his eyes as they light up blue, green, and red.

"Heya guys! Is it cold out, or are you guys cold?" He says, referring to Daxton and Gerry.

"Yeah. We feel a bit chilly, but we don't know why." Gerry shrugs.

"Well, come on inside, where the AC is at. Tina isn't here right now, but she'll be back later." Fein stands up, turning around, as he walks he kicks down on the mat, sending up a key.

"Here's your key back, Edgar." He holds the key out to Edgar, who had let Fein borrow a key earlier that week so Fein could get an item of his from Edgar's house. As they go inside in front of Fein, Daxton and Gerry look to each other, unsure of whether or not they should go through with their plot. If they do, they can escape persecution and save each other for sure, but if not, who knows what could happen?

Fein locks and closes the door behind him, walking to the left in the hallway leading to the kitchen, and going to the drawer where he had something cool he found to show his friends. At this time is where Daxton and Gerry figured is the best time. In case their own knives wouldn't do, there are undoubtedly spares in the kitchen. They approach Fein from behind silently as he looks around in the drawer, finding what he was looking for: a sharp, serrated switchblade. He figured the others had more use for it than him. At the moment, Gerry and Daxton had planned to wait a bit to ease him into vulnerability, while Edgar and Fate distracted his cousin, but her being out, they didn't have the possibility of time management. Both of them pull out large tactical knives, and attempt to slash the young boy's neck to make his end painless, but at the moment, he turns around, and is rather cut across the nose and cheek, and stunned by the attack. Seeing the opportunity, Daxton punches him in the chest, missing his throat, and breaking a rib, sending him to the ground. The action and feelings of fear ignite something inside the boy's blood, and this awakens the midi-chlorians. They are simply enhancers, but can still entirely change a person with their force ability, and this happens now as the boy is being attacked. Still holding the switchblade, he rolls out between the two's legs and hops up, making a dash for the laundry area, both of them right behind him. He closes and locks the door, outrunning the two bigger creatures as he looks around for bleach, before the door breaks in, as he turns around and backs up, holding the knife in a reverse grip, as they both take a swing at him with theirs, he ducks out of the way and slashes at Daxton's kneecaps, points of weakness and a tactician's intellect taking over as dark side energy flows through him, and as they continue attacking him, he continues to back up slightly, until one of Daxton's slashes hits, cutting him wide across the mouth, Gerry following up, and this sends the boy hard enough back that a lot of the products on the shelf he hit fall off, caps flying and liquids as well, drenching his face and arms in flammable substances and the floor in thick fluid. He kicks them both in the knees hard enough to stun them, the dark side doing more than his body, and he rolls out, attempting to find a window in time, until fate finally catches up, quite literally, as Fate and Edgar walk to the area to see what the noise was about.

Now, Fate is a Phoenix, but her flames are a special kind of controlled: all they do is cause heat, rather than fire. But chemistry still can foil even the best of some science, and enough special heat goes through to the chemicals on Fein, and upon the heat combusting, Fein shouts in agony. His face and arms, as well as part of his chest, catching fire, and eating away at his flesh. He reels about, attempting to wipe away some of the chemicals...only to spread them out on his face and arms more. He slows down as he tries to at least repel the attackers by heating his blade up in fire, but in unsteady movements and panic, simply causes more harm to himself and cuts his face more. He throws the blade backwards, and it nearly impales Gerry in the head. He hits the ground, passing out from the heat. And as he lay dying, of course Daxton and Gerry tear his face even worse, to ensure his death. Of course, the dark side allowed him to live, and also let him have the knowledge that as the two attackers left, Edgar and Fate simply looked at his would-be corpse. On this day, he stopped being the innocent young boy Fein. He became a dark side user, a dark side ally, a dark pawn. He was Fawkes.

…

While Silina had been talking to Infernus about what to do next, Fawkes reminisced about his past. He truly didn't like it, because he knew that he was who he was because his friends were cowards. They had been cowards to believe the only way to be safe was to murder someone less physically abled and be able to brag they did it or say they supported it, for a protection that may not have come.

In reality, not Fawkes' daydreaming, Silina was tasked to do nothing. Fawkes comes back to reality a moment before Infernus turns his attention to Fawkes.

"You, young Sith, will go to Jakku. Years before, the First Order attempted to locate a map on Jakku, and failed to do so. I have intelligence that there is a piece of evidence that a Jedi was engaged in fraudulent activity, and the evidence is on Jakku. Go there and retrieve the evidence."

"Yes sir."  
"Don't forget to get your cybernetic mask on."

"Yes, Lord Infernus."

He walks away, followed by Silina.

"Fawkes, what do you mean about-"

"I don't like to speak of it. Please don't ask."

"Ok. So, basically, that means you kinda hate my dad?"  
"Essentially the second most, The one I hate most is dead now. Too bad I couldn't set THOSE bombs myself."

"But why? What'd he do to you?"

"My face. He did that to me."

"But-"

'I don't like my face. I made a new one for that reason."

He walks onto his ship, setting coordinates for Jakku, bringing with him his Shadowtrooper Legion 777, the highest-skilled of the middle-ranked Shadowtroopers. He sends two of them to the front to pilot the ship, and as they do that he turns and walks to where the rest are at. 150 troopers stand at attention in unison, red decals glittering in the light, black armor shining bright. Fawkes stands before them, arms folded behind his back.

"It has been stated that you are the creme of the half crop. Not the best, but the closest there is in your positions. We are currently on a mission that requires accuracy, precision, and speed. This isn't a simulation, this is your first mission. It's your goal to capture the villagers, and shoot to stun, kill if under absolute necessity. You are not clones; you are not men; you are troopers. Precise and calculating, and I'll be damned if someone says you aren't fit for my fleet. You all are under my command, but you are not slaves, not servants, but troopers. You fight for those you believe in, and for that, you believe in me. With that trust you put in me, I put in you. Understand that you all are not coworkers, I am not a coworker or boss, but we are legion. AA prevails."

The troopers salute, precision blasters, modified E-11 rifles in hand, and upgraded shock guns attached to their right wrist.

Fawkes goes up front and relieves the pilot of control of the ship, taking his place, co-pilot remaining. Fawkes turns to him, and the trooper looks to him as well.

"Would you kindly remove your mask?" Fawkes requests, and the trooper fulfills his request, removing his mask. His cheeks are hollow, his skin tone light and a bit patchy, his hair silver and lined with black streaks. His eyes are grey as mandalorian iron, barely any shine to them at all. He has an iron will, as shown by his face, blank and purposefully toned to a military aura. He's 34 years old.

"Do you mind pain?"

"Not terribly, sir."

"Then hold still briefly."

Fawkes removes a lightsaber, activating it, white in color, and very carefully holds it up to the trooper's face.

"Promotions take challenge and effort. If you can pilot this and drop off all the troopers, and myself, deftly and without failure, and if you can endure the pain of earning the marks, you will be promoted to Chief Pilot. I entrust you'll do well. But remember, with promotion, comes carving."

He deactivates the lightsaber and puts it away, Fawkes nodding as the trooper puts his helmet back on, Fawkes making the jump to lightspeed, and stops it a few minutes later, right in Jakku's atmosphere, as the co-pilot steadies the ship's velocity so they don't crash, Fawkes steering the ship towards a village.

"Fawkes is my name, as I'm sure you're certain. So what's yours?"

"Niner, sir."

"Nice name. Niner, pull back the thrust throttle, and set the engines to cruise. I trust you can do the rest from there."  
Niner does as told, and Fawkes activates the ship's lights, as they approach the village also activating stealth mode, before getting up and walking to the hangar, with his troops. A minute later, he jumps out with the rest a decent few meters to the ground, the ship flying away as all of the troops and Fawkes land in perfect formation.

Many villagers already had weapons out, and shouted at seeing a Sith with shadow troops enter the area. As they start firing, most blasts deflected by Fawkes, the stunned and some casualties occur rapidly for the villagers, the troopers suffering nothing, using their near-expert marksmanship to finish anything before it starts, shocking the villagers to stun them or shooting the ones that put up a resistance in the chest/head. It isn't too long until the villagers are captured, and an elderly man is brought forward, looking like he's 100 years old.

"Haven't you Sith learned from history? This is simply a premonition. The First Order fell, as they attempted to find an item in this village, this planet, this same concept."

"True enough, old man. But you know that we're more competent."

Fawkes turns to the Shadowtroopers gathered around.

"First one to find the recording gets a weapon upgrade for their squad."

He turns back to see the captured villagers. Some look like they think they can take the Sith, one foolish man trying to do so with an electrostaff. He's cut down in nearly the blink of an eye, his upper half separated from the bottom, blood spraying onto those nearby.

"Anyone else want to play tag with a lightsaber?"

Silence, except for whimpers and whispers from the captured residents. A squad returns 5 minutes later, holding up a blue cube.

"Found it in a hole in the ground, sir. They had attempted to bury it."

"Would've been a smart choice."

"What of the villagers, sir?"

Fawkes turns to the villagers. He looks at the old man, who seems to have remembered the incident of Jakku. He fears a near-exact repeat, and bows his head. Fawkes thinks of shooting the men down, or the women with weapons drawn, before seeing a small boy, clung tightly to a couple. Nothing strikes him strong about the force, but his appearance does. Bright eyes glistening, hair red from the blood on it, face full of fear as he believes he is about to die. Fawkes recognizes that same exact look, and senses the same feeling. The fear of dying and being helpless about it. He turns to the shadowtrooper who asked.

"Leave them be. We have what we need. Except for the old man. Inject him with the bug."

A trooper holds the man down and injects him with experimental technology, essentially a bug that remains in one's body, so they can be heard at all times. The trooper then joins his squad as they walk in formation back to the ship, almost half of the villagers crying in relief, fear, or trauma. The 10 squads of 15 walk back to the ship, standing before Fawkes yet again.

"You did well there, troopers. Not a single casualty, not a single hit, not a single injury. That's better than expected. The effort observed shows you all truly do believe in your jobs. Yourselves. You used tact and precision rather than brute force, unlike the imbecilic stormtroopers of the Empire. It seems you all are quite different. So, remove your masks, and leave them where you stand. You may go to the quarters. Dismissed."

The troopers do as told, a mix of beings here, all human, but every single one is different. Some tan, some African-American, some pale, some ugly, beautiful, whatever your philosophy is. They all walk to the back of the ship, shaped like a Star Destroyer but regular ship sized rather than an actual Star Destroyer in size, as well as having a much thinner look, and instead of a command area protruding from the back, there are three large domes on the top, spread out in a triangular formation.

Fawkes gets to work immediately, the ship starting to fly off the planet, and an hour later Fawkes is done with what he needed to do. He walks to the front, sitting in the pilot's chair, and looking to Niner as he puts the ship on autopilot.

"Congratulations. You were flawless in flight and did excellent in drop-off, as well as returning very much ahead of time after scouting. You've done well, Niner, very well."

"Thank you, Lord Deceitus."

"Now, are you ready for promotion? It will cost you flesh and blood. But the best do, don't they?"  
"Yes sir."

"Remove your mask."

Niner does as told, Fawkes equipping the white saber, and very carefully carving a diagonal line on Niner's hollow cheeks, before drawing a horizontal line across those lines., before drawing another. He basically just drew a Not Equal To sign.

Niner remains steadfast during this operation. Upon it ending, he stiffens his body a bit and looks to Fawkes.

"I thank you, sir."

"Don't mention it. Or do. So your peers may know it too. Also, let me see your mask."

"Yes sir."

Niner hands over his mask, and Fawkes walks out. He comes back minutes later holding a vastly different mask, one with the face of a regular Guy Fawkes mask painted on it, the back still black with a red flame decal.

"Sir, mind me asking what this is?"  
"Your new design. You are part of the Anonymous Legion, my very own fleet and small army. You are all a part of it. Now, head to Tatooine. I must visit Mos Eisley.

…

"He has progressed well." Supreme Commander Iblis says to Infernus.

"Indeed. He is teaching himself the dark side, while teaching another the dark side at the same time, and yet still remaining in the rule of two."

"Should we give him such a task? Setting one person up for death and assisting the sith in killing a Worship Council member is one thing, but to infiltrate the Jedi Temple to kill a Worship Council member by himself?"

"He won't be by himself. He will be with a droid disguised a recording protocol droid, made to assassinate in close quarters to top Jedi ranks. He will also be joined by myself in disguise as my alter ego, Espter. I can promise you this will not be a solitary mission."

"Still, don't you think there will be suspicion? And what if they survive?"  
"We have methods of hiding our presence. Besides, we only aim for the Komodo. We whittle their numbers down one by one. Easy."

"What of myself?"  
"You'll be the one giving us a reason to be there, under your disguise as a Jury of the Jedi Order, with myself as the impartial third party, and Fawkes as guardian, the droid already mentioned. The Komodo will die from his heart exploding, presumably due to a purposeful overdose on morphine or another such medicine, to save himself. The cameras we will doctor will show as such happening."

"Yes, my lord. Anything else?"  
"Bring three shadow trooper commanders along to guard our ship."

…

"So, you need what?" This statement is whispered by a young Trandoshan, wearing light battle armor, with a small blaster pistol and an ion rifle at his hip. He leans in close to Fawkes and Niner, as well as an armorless shadowtrooper that named himself Ire, wearing clothes like one on Tatooine might wear.

"We need tools to fix a hyper drive." Niner says in his toneless, direct voice.

"Well, you DID come to the right guy, then. I gotcha not-needed tools until they are, like now. Nobody needs a hyperdrive fixed till it's broke. So, watcha need to fix?"  
"The main wires. They fried recently." Fawkes responds.

"And they managed to do that themselves?"  
"No. They were pushed a bit too hard exiting the Jakku atmosphere and returning to where I needed to go."

"So. I'll give you the tools you need. Let's make a deal."

"Hm?"

"I'll give 'em to ya for just 1500 (15,000) credits instead of 2000 if you can tell me what happened. Some dudes flew on over and attacked the place, killed 14 people. And whas with the desert runt?" The Trandoshan motions to Ire.

"Aye, I'm a representative. It's hot here, ya know. Couldn't hurt to represent and cool it a bit."

"Right."  
"Well, a Sith Lord attacked the village and stole an item. He's got a bounty, you know. 1500 credits for anyone who can discern his location."  
"Really now? Well then, I'll get a nice 3000 today, won't I? I can go lookin' for him right now."

"After this."  
"Yeah." The Trandoshan hands them the tools needed, and Fawkes hands over the credits. Niner offers his hand out, but the Trandoshan just stares at it.

"You tryin' to start something?"

"No, good sir. Just shaking hands as a sign of good parting."  
"Nah. Thanks, human. Good travels."

The Trandoshan heads out, eager to get an extra 1500 credits. Fawkes stands, Ire following, followed to the side by Niner.

"Where are we headed, sir?"  
"Coruscant. We've got business at the Temple."

The two troopers stop walking.

"You want a legion of troopers heading to the Temple?"  
"You won't be wearing armor. You're tourists, and I'm the guy who made sure you were safe. In my disguise, of course."

"Good plan. But about…?"  
"Marks from your former employer as a sign of goodwill. It signals that you all will be trustworthy tourists, or at least you."

"Very well, sir."

…

Espter walks out slowly from his ship, smiling bright, followed by Jekob, or under his disguise, Iblis, into the Jedi temple. Fawkes stands beside him, along with a "recording protocol droid". They all enter the room which starts a chain spiral into the Fall of the Sith. *Cue A Jedi's Fury.*

(Finally got around to putting an ending. Might do an Overwatch Fanfiction. Probably won't, maybe will. Will involve junkrat.)


	7. Episode VII: The Downward Spiral

Espter smiles bureaucratically at the guards in the High Jedi Order's room, followed by the protocol droid, the disguise for an assassin droid, and Jekob, Commander Iblis in disguise, greets the two Jedi in the chairs they sit, The Phoenix and the Kimono, with the Raven sitting in the balcony usually reserved for spectators, now reserved for him as he doesn't have the governmental figure that the other two have, especially with Daxton dead.

"Afternoon, lady and gentlemen. If you don't mind me asking, how are you?"

"Good as can be." The Kimono responds in a deep voice that doesn't rumble like Daxton's but also doesn't sound comforting in any way.

"I'm doing just fine." The Phoenix says in her voice, light and sweet, looking nonchalant but still invested into the conversation.

"Good, good! Now, we are here to ask you a few questions on behalf of the Intergalactic Senate."

Jekob silently nods at the assassi droid, who sets down a scanner disguised as a vidcorder, scanning the force levels of the two Jedi, Fawkes remaining in guise as a guard for the two officials, dressed in white robes and a Guardian mask, wielding a double-bladed yellow lightsaber, a beautiful, well-crafted one that had its crystal replaced for this event. Fawkes stands well at attention behind the two public officials, the red- clad guards waiting to escort anyone or defend anything from trouble, not taking in anything suspicious.

The assassin around, grey and black with a cylindrical head, projects a list of questions for Espter, really a list of the force ratings.

"Can you confirm or deny your events in the room where the explosion took place?"

"Yes. We confirm that we were sacrificing children of the Dark Side." Kimono nods.

"The dark side?" Espter asks with mock surprise, staged as real surprise.

"Yes...evil children that one day, as many Jedi had foreseen, would one day create the newest dark lord, a terrible being of rage and hate." Fate says.

"That implies Darth Incendius is such." Jekob says sternly.

"Isn't he?" Kimono asks bluntly.

"That's a point of view. In any case, you can confirm these children were prophecised as brings of immense sorrow, bringers of darkness?"

"Yes." Fate answers.

"And there was no way to purify them?" Espter asks with fake poignancy.

"Unfortunately, yes."

"The purpose was to heal the Jedi High Order member Daxton?" Jekob asks tiredly, as if he doesn't care.

"Yes."

"You weren't concerned he would be tainted by the evil of the children mentioned?"

"Their force was drained after death through a ritual which had caused a high concentration of pain, but was relatively quick: but a few moments. This was to replenish the force level and the health of our now-fallen comrade." Kimono says somberly.

"How badly was Daxton injured?"

"A Sith apprentice of unknown teachings burned Daxton to near-death, blasting all the fur off of the member and blasting half his force connection out of him, using force lightning more powerful than any recorded Sith, even Darth Sidious himself wasn't as powerful in those few moments than his abilities were in his battle against Skywalker."

Espter breaks disguise for a moment to raise his eyebrows in actual surprise, sneaking the slightest of glances at his guard, before back to Fate."

"What of the guards in the explosion?"

"We lost a Temple Guardian in the explosion, and another one, someone new, was injured, suffering minor burns.

Miss May Tesn and a bodyguard for...you...was injured." The Kimono says to Espter, now wary.

"What's the matter?"

"He was injured the least..why isn't he here?"

"I wouldn't dream of putting an injured guard on duty, unless under absolute necessity."

The kimono's eyes narrow as Fate makes the connection too: Espter's guard doesn't need to be there. This is a temple guardian, not a bodyguard.

Espter gets a call on his comlink and speaks through his mind.

"Yes, Calpa?"

"Akat here, trouble brewing..the guard came back from leave early, his wife's child a bit premature. He doesn't know where his uniform went. Any chance you can speed this up?"

"Of course. Kill all the guards."

"Yes sir. Should I get the shadowtroopers?"

"Immediately."

Espter ends the link connection.

"Who was that?" Fate asks suspiciously.

"My bo-"

"Miss May informs me that you two are needed in the senate. Before you go...Gerry, mind staying here?" The Guardian says.

Espter and Jekob smile as the assassin droid throws the scanner as it draws two heavy Blasters and fires rapidly, the Jedi barely having enough time to react and reflect the blasts, as the droid takes out a Shoto saber and shoto electrostaff to engage the Jedi, Edgar darting to attention as Jekob equips his Plasma Rifle, which fires shots of pure plasma rather than laser blasts, burning, dealing less overall damage but able to fry lightsabers if they reflect too many shots or even destroy them, and can burn seriously, and the rifle also has a slight bayonet of a tiny shoto saber, colored yellow, but Espter backs away and acts as if he's oh-so-surprised by all this, and Jekob pretends to shoot at the droid but purposely misses every shot very convincingly as the droid engages the two Jedi, holding good ground, especially as the guards are decapitated by the Guardian with the double saber, before the saber is thrown at the guards at the top protecting The Raven, the saber flying past Gerry, Fate barely dodging it as a plasma shot hits her in the thigh, stunning her as the droid kicks her in the stomach and sends her to the wall, while another shot hits her stomach, the droid now engaging the Kimono one on one, until the Guardian pulls out the Sai Saber and slices through the Jedi's upper thigh, and stops the droid's onslaught.

Miss May, aka Silina, opens the door of the Jedi High Order's in time to see a Guardian fly past her into the hallway, mask cracked severely and bleeding from the cracks. Force punched. She turns to see her father destroy an assassin droid and pant as he thinks the battle is over.

"My word! Are you alright, Kimono?" Espter asks worriedly, Edgar hurrying off the balcony.

"That Guardian..is a Sith…"

"A Sith? I was informed he was to be my bodyguard for a temporary point in time...why was I lied to again?" Espter shakes his head with frustration, as if annoyed by his employers, again. Edgar reaches the door to the hallway, but is sent back up the stairs by a force push by the guardian imposter, who goes back up the stairs in time to throw his Exar Kun-styled lightsaber at the Kimono, severing an arm, as it returns the the thrower, who draws a lightsaber, his own saber.

"Metis quod non seminasti, Kimono." The Guardian says before rearing back, ignoring the exclamation from May, and decapitates the Kimono, sending the body down into the streets below by sending it out the window, blood leaking from the mask more now.

"Get us to the ship quickly, Jekob. Stay here, Miss May, and clean your face at once, 'Kes.'" Espter says low and hurriedly, as Jekob quickly sets out his nanobot to doctor the footage and the two run as fast they can to the nearest transport terminal.

Fawkes takes his mask off, nose broken and bleeding from his eyes as he cleans his face, until May confronts him.

"Why did you do that?!"

"Because I was told to."

"You weren't supposed to kill him!" She shouts.

"Yes I was. Those were my distinct orders, as were yours. I know you and your father aren't very close, but your mind is unsettlingly clouded.

"But...I just…" She sighs loudly.

"You were supposed to implode his heart, at least. You cut an arm off, cut his leg and cut off his head… Bit overkill, wouldn't you think?"

"No. Perfect justice. Cut off the head of a snake, you actually kill the snake. Stomping on a worm won't break its spine."

Fate groans, waking up from her trauma-induced unconscious, and Edgar starts as well. Kes is now in his ceremonial guardian robes, his face looking normal, for a bit.

"Miss! Uh…"

Kes kneels before her, despite her still being on the ground. Exactly what a young learned would do.

"High Order Member Phoenix, are you alright?"

She shakes her head and looks up. Seeing blood splattered on the floor and in a pool near where Gerry the Kimono was decapitated. Window broken. No one in the room that was there before. Edgar gone. And now a guardian-in-training and a recently found Jedi Order member are the ones she sees when she wakes up. Her mind, still groggy, very much overloads from trying to process it all, and she goes back to unconsciousness.

…

Espter is gaining a lot of noise from both sides, light and dark, from all directions, from all sources.

"Have you heard news of the treason Jedi Lupen?!"

"Was this a Sith Orchestration?!"

"Where is Darth Infernus?!"

"What are the whereabouts of the Kimono?!"

"WHAT ARE THE DETAILS?!"

Infernus' seat rises, adjacent to Espter's, and they both shake hands before Espter raises his for silence, and the chatter eventually dies down, after 4 minutes of small noise.

"We have no details on Lupen, Infernus is right here, we cannot confirm or deny allegiance details, and the Kimono is confirmed to be dead."

Much more chatter starts, Jedi and Sith arguing, newsreporters bellowing their questions over each other, conspiracies running amok.

"All we know is a breach has been...oh?"

A window appears on his control panel, as well as Jekob's handheld panel.

"We have news, and please be quiet, I will tell you all what the details are."

He pretends to scroll a bit before reading aloud.

"An unknown force user masquerading as a Jedi Temple Guardian accompanied myself as a bodyguard as my normal bodyguard was being treated for injuries, and once inside the room, took over a protocol droid and armed it very quickly with sabers and activated deflection tech, making the droid attempt to kill the Kimono, and wounding The Phoenix, as my good friend Jekob tried to help defend the jedi and I attempted to alert the guards, but it was too late: they had been killed. The Raven suffered head injuries and a spinal fracture from a sudden slip on the stairs it seems to be, and despite the droid being destroyed, the force user killed the Kimono and then fled. We believe this force user to be Lupen using a force mirage, or a copycat. Miss May Tesn and temple guardian in training Kes Insurgen found the Phoenix unconscious and wounded by plasma rifle shots, after seeing a temple guardian walk hurriedly from the room before transporting elsewhere."

An explosion of noise interrupts, the clone/mirage of Infernus smiling.

"No further details are known right now." Espter says, before stopping his transmission to the rest of the room.

,..

Fate rests in a medical treatment room. The cameras in the room caught everything, and given Espter's description and the slight doctoring by Jekob's nanobot, everything seems exactly as is. Plus, the explanation won enough people over to clear the High Order from temple arrest, and the Jedi Order itself has a lighter 'probation'. The full details are still being worked out, but until then, Fate lays on a medical bed with healing liquids in the mattress, much like a water bed, and a healing aura surrounding the supports, flowing into the Phoenix as she rests, until Kes walks in, as she had asked him to.

"Young Padawan, I have a very important task for you. I need you to guard this room."

"Ok."

"..you should be a bit less naive."

"What?" Kes looks dumbfounded.

"You accepted the task I requested because _I_ told you, right?"

"No. Because no one else is here and the Temple was breached. They're getting background checks on all the guards. Sounds annoying, so, instead of that, helping you sounds like fun."

"You find security checks annoying…?"

"Mostly one versatile thorough. I saw it. They were looking at favorite foods and such, which seems ostentatious at worst, unrelenting at best. That could be doing better things than gauging reactions by trivial answers to trivial questions: such things like favorite class at the academy or preferred style of fighting would assist much more, I believe."

Fate smiles weakly. Mostly because this one has much to learn, but also because she doesn't want to laugh at his thorough explanation of how thorough the exams are. That he hasn't done yet.

"Besides, I don't want to be screened a second time for being human. I think the security scanner might be speciest, he attaches too much to humans."

Or he has done them. Just didn't mention he didn't want a second screening.

"Well, thanks for honesty...a bit open, but honesty is good."

"Are you alright as you are now? And if you aren't, you could just...force pull me in here, I suppose. Wouldn't mind, because it would mean something is urgent and requires immediate attention."

Fate smiles wider now. "Thanks for your concern, young Jedi, but I am fine."

Kes nods and walks outside, standing outside the door and staying there. But not really. Espter set his own mirage aside for Kes' for a bit while the real Kes, Fawkes, heads to his ship, Niner and Co. returning from their mission. They were to cause small bits of issues and blame them on Jedi, to plant conspiracies and doubts, and to generally disrupt regular activities with rumors and more. The Jedi are more disreputable than ever now, and this could not be boosted more after Fawkes walks back in his regular gear, the illusion of Kes only noticing as a lightsaber 'sliced' him in half, and he then disappears from view, leaving blood and a lightsaber hilt on the floor, but no body, as its "whisked away" to another realm, another time (back to a fading imaginary figure.)

As the final nail in the coffin, a shadowtrooper by the name of 10-7 Y (or informally, Sevent) throws a plasma grenade at the Temple room of the Jedi order, where Nyt currently resides, before a he's thrown out of his chair as an explosion rocks the other side of the room.

…

There's no mistake: now it's some kind of war. Infernus arrives on a planet and walks slowly, hands behind his back, only nodding to the soldiers that guard the path as they salute, walking into the New Order Temple, unknowingly follow by someone or something…

He waves open the doors and walks down, down, down to the deepest part, where Force Enhancing chambers reside.

A wolf wearing a white hospital gown of sorts is in such a tank, before being lifted out by medical staff and placed on a floating gurney.

"Lupen. Awaken."

The wolf does so growling loudly.

"What...is it?" He enunciates his question, still furious about being kidnapped and kept here.

"I have a mission that will earn you your freedom and respect among the Jedi. Kill the Sith Lord Darth Deceitus, and bring me his lightsabers. All of them."

"That's it?"

"Yes. The Jedi will respect you again and you may leave here." Infernus grins sadistically. Lupen has no idea of his blame in the Temple affairs and has no knowledge that Fawkes is much more powerful than him.

"Fine. Can I make it quick?"

"It must be nothing but. That is all."

Infernus walking back up, almost turns around to choke the Jedi just to feed of his hatred within, but restrains himself. That can wait.

…

Espter, Nyt and Kin Moran, and Hallie all sit across from each other, Alka (Calpa) standing beside Espter. Infernus walks into the room and nearly makes Hallie growl by doing so, his presence so unwaveringly hateful...he's joined shortly afterwards by Fawkes, mask and all, and a new lightsaber to his hilt: a four-bladed one shaped like a cross, even and straight. Kes' saber. Now Hallie seethes. It's bad enough the Jedi Order itself is being destroyed slowly, but the trustworthy new JTG Kes had been a good force user, and she was hoping to offer him an apprenticeship...he seemed so friendly and outgoing. That lightsaber hilt signified that he was dead.

"Thank you for meeting these Jedi at the our Temple, Infernus."

"I care not they are here. I have nothing to hide." He waves his hand and sits down, Fawkes standing opposite Alka, Espter next to Infernus.

"These fine men and Lady Hallie tells me of troubling news, and required your presence."

"Yes?" Infernus says, tilting his head up a bit. Kin is still haunted by the eerie appearance of Infernus, Nyt unnerved.

"The IEI is under attack by a swarm of bounty hunters." Nyt says.

Infernus grips the arm rests of his chair in fury and Espter frowns. Again.

"What?!" He growls out. He had not orchestrated this.

"A large division of Jedi and scoundrel bounty hunters are attacking the Sith in protests of the temple issues. We need...your input on this." Hallie says, pained she needs any help of any kind from the Sith.

"Nothing can be done. They are students. We can add security at best. But what are we to do? Kill them?" Infernus asks incredulously.

"Isn't that what you WANT to do?" Hallie asks aggressively.

"The Sith Order does not kill Jedi without reason. We. Have. Standards, young one." Infernus says wearily, as if already tired of this conversation.

"We don't have all the details of the Temple attack yet...calm, General, please." Nyt says, trying to keep a civil manner to the table.

Before conversations can start, two troopers and Lupen open the door, and before anyone can react, the troopers shoot at Fawkes and Lupen lunges ferociously, and since Fawkes is recoiling from the shots that hit chest sides, he doesn't react well to the lunging wolf who strikes across the mask, cutting it off, and part of the cybernetic mask, half of his face in fact, so he isn't recognizable as Kes unless you looked at him too long, and his hair isn't visible...but his rage is. He sends Lupen into the wall, Alka firing at the troopers and the Jedi have their sabers ready now, ready to defend, Espter drawing a blaster pistol and Infernus simply sitting. Fawkes proceeds to electrify the twitching wolf before spearing him with the cross saber, Lupen howling as he's pinned to the floor, before being electrocuted further, and when the Jedi try to stop him, they can't move: frozen in the air as the wolf bursts into flames and Fawkes yanks the saber out, flinging the wolf out of the room through the door way violently. Lupen's neck and skull cracks as he hits the floor, almost hitting a Sith apprentice on the way down. Lupen does immediately on impact, still burning away, but nevertheless dead.

"Are we done here?" Fawkes said, voice ragged and furious, eyes burning and harsh as the Jedi are no longer frozen. As they turn to him, he summons a mask from...somewhere in the hallway, I suppose, and puts it on, before taking the cross saber and tossing it, thudding on the table as it slides in front of Hallie.

"Kid dropped it. You should give it back to him. He might need it." He says before skulking off to elsewhere.

" Well... that was most...unfortunate…" Espter says frowning hard, very concerned and displeased. Infernus hadn't planned Lupen coming by so soon...very unfortunate. Nyt and Kin turn to Espter before recoiling as Hallie brushes past them, following a blood trail all the way out to the ship dock, where she catches Fawkes, she assumes, talking to his captain, a hollow-looking man. She waits until he's done, watching him twirl a lightsaber hilt, stopping for long enough that she recognizes it's from a Jedi Order member who had died from grievous wounds just a few weeks ago, and no one could explain. Before he steps onto the ship, she pulls him to her with the force.

"Where did you 'find' this?!" Hallie holds up the cross saber, snarling.

"A kid at your temple seemed to have been knocked out pretty hard. I took his saber for fun."

"Knocked out...temple?" She tries to register his words.

"He was talking to himself about how he should've been the guard up there, but he wasn't, right before the wolf man slammed him in the side of the head. Hard. I suppose he meant the unfortunate incidence earlier today. And please, stop staring at my lightsaber hilts. They were ALL fair game."

He resists her force pull and drops to the ground, giving a half-assed salute before walking to his ship, Hallie confused..was he lying, or was the Sith involved in the Temple attack?

…

A strange figure lurks in the form of a Jedi at the IEI. This figure is hard to describe, but has a cloak on and carries two lightsabers, two dead bodies on the floor, of the dorm members. It's looking. It decides that this isn't the right room, before going over to the next one as pandemonium reigns supreme on the other side of the campus. As he opens the door, Fawkes stands in the door frame, leaning against the frame, mask off. His harsh, scarred face cold and intimidating, as he looks into the surprised eyes of his former comrade.

"Here for something, Edgar? Need something? Or maybe...someone? You could've asked instead of sneaking around. If someone came back, you could've been taped...woulda looked like YOU did it...huh. Looks like someone DID tape it." Fawkes chuckles hoarsely before shocking the Raven and closing the door, as the wild raging noise begins anew upon the discovery of the scene. The Fall of the Sith Order draws close.


End file.
